1.. 


from  t^e  feiBrari?  of 

(profe06or  ^amuef  Otiffer 

in  (^emorg  of 

Sub^e  ^amuef  (tttiffer  QSrecfttnribge 

^reeenfeb  %t 

^dmuef  (tttiffer  (grecfttnribge  feong 

to  f 3e  feiBrarg  of 

(Princeton  C^eofogicaf  Seminar]? 


-i\\\  .u -^T..v;s  I 


'.^•.yr^4  /ijfj?^ 


AN  ACCOUNT 


LIFE  AND  WRITINGS 

.  /of 

J' 

JAMES  BEATTIE,  LL.D. 

LATE    PROFESSOR    OF    MORAL    PHILOSOPHY    AND    LOGIC    IN    THE 
MARISCHAL  COLLEGE  AND  UNIVERSITY  OF  ABERDEEN. 

INCLUDING 

MANY  OF  HIS  ORIGINAL  LETTERS. 


BY  SIR   WILLIJM  FORBES^ 
OF   PITSLIGO,  BART. 

ONE  OF  THE  EXECUTORS  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


Earum  renim  oinnium  vel  in  primis  hie  fructum  a  me  repetere  prope 
suo  jure  debet.  Nam  hunc  video  mihi  principem,  et  ad  suscipiendam,  et 
ad  ingrediendam  rationem  horum  studiorum  extitisse. 

Cicero /TO  Archia. 


PUBLISJIED    BY 


ISAAC    RILEY    AND    CO.    NEW   YORK;    AND    WILLIAM   ¥. 
M'lAUGHLIN,    PHILADELPHIA. 

1806. 


RIGHT  HONOURABLE  AND  RIGHT  REVEREND 

BEILBY  PORTEUS,  D.  D. 

LORD  BISHOP  OF  LONDON, 

ONE  OF  HIS  majesty's  MOST  HONOURABLE  PRIVY  COUNCIL, 

&c.  Sec.  &C. 


MY  LORD, 

x\S  soon  as  I  formed  the  resolution  of  attempting- 
to  write  the  life  of  Dr  Beattie,  I  determined  to  request  permission 
to  inscribe  it  to  your  Lordship  ;  because  I  Avell  know  the  high 
value  he  justly  set  on  your  friendship,  and  how  much  it  would  have 
gratified  him  to  think,  that  his  name  should  be  joined  with  that  of 
the  Bishop  of  London. 

Your  Lordship  well  knew  Dr  Seattle's  merit  as  a  Philosopher 
and  a  Poet,  and  his  worth  as  a  Man  and  a  Christian.  If  in  this 
attempt,  therefore,  to  delineate  his  character,  I  am  so  fortunate  as 
to  gain,  in  any  degree,  your  approbation,  I  shall  look  upon  my 
work  with  no  ordinary  degree  of  complacence. 

I  embrace,  with  the  greatest  satisfaction,  and  with  peculiar 
propriety,  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  respect  for  you  ;  as  it 
was  to  Dr  Beattie's  kind  partiality  that  I  owed  my  first  introduc- 
tion to  your  Lordship,  and  the  beginning  of  that  friendship  with 
which  you  have  ever  since  been  pleased  to  honour  me. 

I  am. 

My  Lord, 

Your  Lordship's  most  obedient. 

And  faithful  humble  Servant, 

WILLIAM  FORBES, 

Julmbnrifh,  2-lt/i  March,  1806- 


INTRODUCTION. 


JVLr  mason  prefaces  his  excellent  and  entertaining 
Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Gray,*  with  an  observation, 
more  remarkable  for  its  truth  than  novelty,  that  "  the  lives  of  men 
*'  of  letters  seldom  abound  with  incidents.  A  reader  of  sense  and 
"  taste,  therefore,"  continues  he,  "  never  expects  to  find,  in  the 
"  memoirs  of  a  philosopher  or  poet,  the  same  species  of  entertain- 
*'  ment  or  information  which  he  would  receive  from  those  of  a 
"  statesman  or  general.  He  expects,  however,  to  be  either  in- 
"  formed  or  entertained.  Nor  will  he  be  disappointed,  did  the 
"  writer  take  care  to  dwell  principally  on  such  topics  as  charac- 
"  terize  the  man,  and  distinguish  that  peculiar  part  which  he  acted 
"  in  the  varied  drama  of  society." 

Keeping  in  view  this  rule  of  Mr  Mason's,  it  is  my  purpose  to 
give  to  the  world  some  account  of  the  late  Dr  Beattie;  a  man, 
whose  life,  if  it  does  not  afford  many  striking  incidents,  yet  fur- 
nishes no  unuseful  lesson,  and  no  mean  incentive,  to  men  of  genius, 
how  obscure  soever  their  origin  may  be,  or  unpromising  their 
early  prospects ;  as  it  shews  the  degree  of  celebrity  and  indepen- 
dence at  which  they  may  reasonably  hope  to  arrive,  by  the  exertion 
of  those  talents  which  they  inherit  from  Nature,  and  a  virtuous 
conduct  in  the  society  in  which  Providence  has  placed  them. 

Before  I  enter,  however,  on  this  undertaking,  I  deem  it  neces- 
sary to  offer  some  apology  for  my  attempting  it  at  all.  I  wish, 
indeed,  that  it  had  fallen  to  the  lot  of  some  other  person  better 

*  Vol.  II.  p.  1.  Ed.  12mo. 


vi  INTRODUCTION. 

qualified  to  do  justice  to  the  subject ;  yet  perhaps  I  may  be  thought 
to  possess  some  advantages  in  that  respect,  which  are  essential  to 
the  execution  of  a  work  of  this  nature,  f'or  as  he,  who  attempts  to 
write  biography,  ought  to  have  had  a  near  acquaintance  with  the 
pei'son  whose  life  and  character  he  means  to  delineate ;  it  is  my 
pride  to  say,  that  during  the  long  period  of  almost  forty  years,  I 
was  honoured  with  Dr  Bcattie's  unreserved  friendship,  as  well  as 
intimate  epistolary  intercourse.  By  those  means  I  enjoyed  the 
opportunity  of  knowing  him  well,  and  of  duly  appreciating  his 
merit  as  a  poet  and  philosopher,  in  both  of  which  capacities  he 
eminently  excelled.  I  have  also  been  fortunate  enough  to  recover 
much  of  his  private  correspondence  with  others.  From  all  which 
I  hope  to  be  able  to  show,  that  the  writings  which  he  gave  to  the 
world,  were  but  transcripts  of  his  mind:  and  that  he  evinced  his 
love  of  virtue  and  religion,  as  well  as  his  refined  and  classical  taste, 
no  less  in  his  private  and  unreserved  communications  with  his 
friends,  (some  of  them  of  high  rank  in  life,  as  well  as  in  the  literary 
world,)  than  in  those  valuable  works  which  he  composed  with  more 
care  for  the  public  instruction. 

In  order  to  exhibit  to  the  reader  a  faithful  portrait  of  the  ori- 
ginal, I  propose  to  follow  the  example  of  Mr  Mason  in  his  life  of 
Gray,  by  producing  some  of  the  most  interesting  of  Dr  Beattie's 
letters,  and  connecting  them  by  a  narrative,  at  proper  periods, 
of  the  principal  incidents  of  his  life.  By  this  method,  he  will, 
in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  be  his  own  biographer.  And  those 
letters  will  more  clearly  show  the  genuine  goodness  of  his  heart, 
and  the  soundness  of  his  judgment,  than  any  laboured  character 
of  him  that  could  possibly  be  drawn. 

This  mode  of  printing  the  letters  of  men  of  eminence  to  their 
private  friends,  which  of  course  were  never  meant  to  meet  the 
public  eye,  lias,  I  know,  been  condemned  by  some  ;  but  it  has 
been  well  vindicated  by  others,  particularly  by  Mr  Mason.* 
*■•  Letters  of  emiacnt  persons,  not  written  for  publication,"  savs 

*  Life  of  Gray,  Vol,  II.  p.  5.  Ed.  12ino. 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

the  Editor  of  Lord  Orford's  works,  "  have  always  been  sought 
^'  for  with  eagerness  by  the  intelligent  public,  who  justly  conceive, 
"  that,  by  their  means,  the  most  intimate  and  most  satisfactory 
"  acquaintance,  both  with  the  author  and  his  contemporaries,  is 
*'  often  acquired."*     Those  Avho  are  of  a  different  opinion,  may  be 
asked.  Whether  they  can  wish  that  they  had  never  seen  such  letters 
as  Mr  Mason  has  printed  ?  and,  farther.  Whether  they  think  that 
Mr  Gray's  character,  as  a  gentleman  or  a  scholar,  has  been  in- 
jured by  their  publication  ?  It  may  also  be  asked.  Whether  there  be 
not  a  wide  difference  between  those  elegant  selections,  which  do 
equal   honour  to  the  head  and  the   heart  of  the  writers,  and  the 
collections  of  such  men  as  Edmimd  Curl,  into  which  every  thing 
Is  indiscriminately  admitted,  whether  having  merit  or  not,  because 
it  bears  the  name  of  the  eminent  literary  characters  of  his  day  ? 
I  believe  few  readers  of  taste  will  be  at  any  loss  to  find  an  answer 
to  the  (juestion.     If  any  farther  authority  were  Avanting,  I  might 
add  that  of  Mr  Hayley,  who  has  published  his  interesting  life  of 
Cowper  on  the  same  plan.     In  the  introduction  to  his  third  volume, 
Mr  Hayley  has  given  a  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  the  publicati- 
on of  private  letters  ;  and  a  list  of  the  most  eminent  collections  of 
that  species  of  composition  to  be  met  with  in  ancient  as  well  as 
modern  languages.     Whether,  these  letters  of  Dr  Beattie's,  which 
I  have  thus  ventured  to  lay  before  the  public,  may  be  deemed  any 
valuable   addition  to  those  of  which  it  is  already  in  possession,  I 
scarcely  dare  to  think  myself  a  proper  judge :  as  the  partiality  I 
feel  for  every  thing  that  has  fallen  from  his  pen,  may  not  unnatu- 
rally be  supposed  somewhat  to  bias  my  judgment  in  that  respect. 
That  every  letter  of  Dr  Beattie's  here  printed  is  equally  interesting, 
I  am  very  far  from  wishing  to  affirm:  but  I  trust  that  many  will 
be  found  of  no  inconsiderable  value,  as  containing  the  opinions,  on 
literary  subjects,  of  one  who  was  himself  so  excellent  a  judge,  and 
so  eminent  an  example,  of  what  is  most  valuable  in  philosophy,- 
poetry,  or  criticism. 


•  Preface  to  the  Works  of  the  Earl  of  Orford,  p.  xix. 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

I  shall  only  add  firther,  that  I  have  been  scrupulous  in  not 
admitting  any  thin;^  that  I  thought  M'ould  iiurt  the  feelings  of 
others  ;  nor  any  anecdote  or  opinion  whicn  Dr  Beattie  himself 
could  have  wished  to  have  suppressed.  As  an  Editor,  I  have  not 
taken  the  liberty  to  add  a  single  iota  to  what  Dr  Beattie  has 
written ;  but  I  have  thought  myself  fully  warranted  in  omitting, 
witliout  scruple,  whatever  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  would  not  have 
permitted  to  see  the  light. 

When  I  consider  the  very  great  number  of  his  letters,  which  I 
have  been  able  to  recover,  some  of  them  of  great  length,  besides 
many  more  that  he  must  have  written  to  his  other  correspondents, 
which  have  escaped  my  research,  or  have  not  been  deemed  worth 
the  preserving;  when  I  consider,  too,  the  labour  he  bestowed  in 
composing,  as  well  as  transcribing  over  and  over  again  (for  he 
seldom  employed  an  amanuensis,)  his  wozics  for  the  press,  and  at 
the  same  time  think  of  tlie  deplorable  state  of  his  health,  and  that 
he  employed  three  hours  every  day,  for  almost  half  the  year,  i,n 
teaching  his  cjass,  I  cannot  but  be  filled  with  -yvronder  how  he  cpiU^ 
possibly  have  contrived  to  write  so  much,  preserving  and  enjoying 
at  the  same  time  suitable  intercourse  with  society.* 

After  these  few  introductory  observations,  I  now  proceed,  wi,th 
the  utmost  diffidence,  to  submit  the  following  narrative  to  the 
candour  and  indulgence  of  the  public. 


*  I  have  retained  tlie  ancient  custom  of  placing'  the  notes  at  the  bottom 
of  tlie  pai^c,  tUovig-h  in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  some  distinjjuisiiefi 
historical  and  biog-raphical  writers,  who  throw  all  their  notes,. how  short 
soever,  to  the  end  of  the  volume;  a  mode  which  I  have  always  thought  ex- 
tremely inconvenient  for  tlie  reader.  When  notes  run  to  such  a  length,  how- 
ever, as  to  break  the  narrative  too  much,  they  will  be  found,  iiy  references, 
in  the  Appendix. 


LIFE  OF 


JAMES  BEATTIE,  LL.  D.. 


SECTION  I. 

FROM  DR  BEATTIE's  BIRTH,  IN  THE  YEAR  1  735,  TO  HIS  ESTABLISH- 
MENT AT  ABERDEEN,  IN  THE  YEAR   1758. 


James  BEATTIE,  LL.  D.  was  bom  on  the  25th  October, 
1735,  at  Lawrencekirk,*  at  that  time  an  obscure  hamlet  in  the 
county  of  Kincardine  in  Scotland.  His  father  was  James  Beattie, 
who,  at  the  same  time  that  he  kept  a  small  retail  shop  in  the 

*  Lavvrencekh'k,  which  is  situated  twenty-eight  miles  south  from  Aber- 
deen, owes  its  rise,  from  so  slender  a  beglnnhig,  to  the  rank  of  a  borough  of 
barony  (as  such  small  towns  are  called  in  Scotland,  holding  a  rank  somewhat 
above  that  of  a  village)  to  tlie  ai'dent  spirit  of  Lord  Gardenstown,  and  the 
gieat  encouragement  he  bestowed  on  it,  at  a  very  considerable  expence. — 
Any  farther  account  of  Lawrencekirk,  however,  is  foreign  from  my  present 
purpose.  I  may  merely  add,  that  the  house  in  which  Dr  Beattie  was  bom, 
stood  on  a  rising  ground  at  the  north-east  end  of  the  village,  at  no  great 
distance  from  tlie  site  of  the  present  inn,  from  which  it  was  separated  by  a 
small  rivulet.  On  the  same  spot  is  now  built  a  house  inhabited  by  a  nephew 
of  Dr  Beattie's.  And  it  has  been  remarked  by  some  who  are  fond  of  fanciful 
analogies,  that,  as  the  tomb  of  Virgil,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Naples,  was 
adorned  with  a  laurel,  the  birth-place  of  Beattie  was  partly  covered  with  ivy, 
as  if  to  denote  that  it  had  produced  a  poet.  The  banks  of  the  rivulet  are 
beautifully  fringed  with  wild  roses,  where  Dr  Beattie  had  been  accustomed 
to  spend  his  playful  hours  when  at  school,  and  which  he  delighted  to  contem- 
plate each  time  he  passed  through  Lawrencekirk,  with  that  enthusiasm  with 
which  we  revisit,  in  after  life,  the  haunts  of  our  boyish  days. 


10  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

village,  rented  a  little  farm  in  the  neighbourhocd,  on  which,  and 
on  a  similar  spot  about  a  mile  distant,  his  forefathers,  for  several 
generations,  had  carried  on  the  same  useful  employment  of  agri- 
culture. His  mother's  name  was  Jean  Watson  ;  and  they  had  six 
children,  of  whom  the  youngest  was  James,  the  subject  of  these 
memoirs.  If  from  tliis  humble  line  of  ancestry  Dr  Reattie  derived 
no  lustre,  it  may  be  fairly  said,  that  he  incurred  no  disgrace.  For 
though  they  were  poor,  they  were  honest ;  and  were  even  distin- 
guished in  that  neighbourhood  for  their  superior  understanding. 
His  father,  in  particular,  is  represented  as  having  been  a  man  of  a 
most  I'espectable  character,  who,  by  reading,  had  acquired  know- 
ledge superior  to  what  could  have  been  expected  in  his  humble 
condition. 

After  his  father's  death,  his  mother,  who  was  a  woman  of 
uncommon  abilities,  was  assisted  in  the  management  of  their 
small  farm  by  her  eldest  son  David  ;  by  the  profits  of  which,  and 
of  the  retail  shop  in  the  village,  she  was  enabled  to  bring  up  her 
family  in  a  comfortable  manner.  Her  son  James  she  placed  at  the 
parish  school  of  Lawrencekirk. 

To  that  part  of  the  civil  polity  of  Scotland,  by  which  in  every 
parish  a  public  school  is  by  law  established,  it  has  been,  not 
unjustly,  attributed,  that  the  lower  classes  of  people  in  Scotland 
often  display  a  superior  degree  of  abilities  through  common  life, 
to  those  of  the  same  station  in  other  countries,  among  whom  the 
blindest  ignorance  but  too  frequently  prevails.  For  in  these 
parochial  schools  the  youth,  even  of  the  peasantry,  may,  if  so  in- 
clined, receive  such  a  measure  of  instruction,  as  is  suited  to  their 
station,  or  may  enable  them,  if  possessed  of  superior  genius,  to 
arrive  at  still  iiigher  attainments  in  literature. 

The  parish  school  of  Lawrencekirk  was  at  that  time  of  some 
reputation  ;  and  it  was  rendered  the  more  remarkable,  by  being 
the  same  in  which  Ruddiman,  the  celebrated  grammarian,  had 
taught  about  forty  years  before.  When  young  Beattie  attended  it, 
this  school  was  taught  by  a  person  of  the  name  of  Miine,  whom  he 
used  to  represent  as  a  good  grammarian,  and  tokrably  skilled  in 
the  Latin  language,  but  destitute  of  taste,  as  well  as  of  some  other 
qualifications  essential  to  a  good  teacher. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  U 

During-  the  period  of  his  attendance  at  the  parish-school,  he 
had  access  to  feAv  books.*  Such  as  he  could  procure,  lie  read  with 
avidity,  and  it  was  then  that  he  clianced  to  meet  with  Ogilby's 
translation  of  Virgil,  from  which  he  learned  "  the  tale  of  Troy 
"  divine,"  and  first  became  acquainted  with  English  versification.! 
Even  at  that  early  period,  his  turn  for  poetry  began  to  shew  itself, 
and  among  his  school-fellows  he  went  by  the  name  of  the  Poet.  It 
was  remarked,  likewise  by  his  family  at  home,  particularly  by  a 
sister  some  years  older  than  himself,  at  whose  house  in  Montrose^ 
after  her  mai-riage,  he  occasionally  visited,^  that,  during  tise  night- 
time, he  used  to  get  out  of  lied,  and  walk  about  his  chamber,  in 
order  to  write  down  any  poetical  thought  that  had  struck  his  fancy. 

In  the  year  1749,  he  commenced  his  academical  course,  and 
attended  the  Greek  class  in  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  at  that 
time  taught  by  Dr  Blackwell.§  Of  Dr  Blackwell's  friendship  to 
him,  he  retained  through  life  the  most  grateful  remembrance, 
frequently  declaring  that  the  learned  Principal  was  the  first  person 
who  gave  him  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  possessed  of  any  genius. 
By  Dr  Blackwell,  he  was,  to  his  astonishment,  early  distinguished 
as  superior  to  all  his  classfellows  ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  session 


*  For  such  books  as  he  read  at  this  early  period,  he  was  almost  solely' 
indebted  to  the  Rev.  Mr  Thomson,  at  that  time  minister  of  Lawrencekirk; 
a  very  learned  man,  whose  collection,  though  in  all  probability  it  was  not 
large,  yet  was  superior  to  what  a  minister  of  the  church  of  Scotland  can 
generally  be  supposed  to  possess  in  a  country  parish.  Of  that  clergyman, 
Dr  Beattie  always  spoke  with  the  highest  respect,  and  acknowledged  in  a 
particular  manner  his  obligations  to  him  for  the  use  of  books. 

f  It  is  a  curious  co-incidence  of  circumstances,  that  Pope  was  initiated  in 
poetry  at  eight  years  of  age  by  the  perusal  of  Ogilby's  Homer.  A  friend 
having  presented  Dr  Beattie,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  with  a  copy  of 
Ogilby's  Virgil,  made  him  very  happy,  in  thus  recalling  to  his  imaginution 
all  the  ideas  with  which  his  favourite  author  had  at  first  inspired  him,  even 
through  the  medium  of  a  translation. 

I  Mrs  Valentine,  who  told  this  anecdote  to  Mr  Arbuthnot,  fom  whom 
I  had  it. 

§  Dr  Thomas  Blackwell,  Principal  of  Marischal  College,  and  Professor 
of  Greek,  in  which  language  he  was  eminfently  skilled;  author  of  an  "En- 
"  quiry  into  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Homer;"  "  Letters  concerning^  My- 
"  thology  ;"  and  "  Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  Augustus." 


>3  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

1749-50,  he  received  from  him  a  book,  elegantly  bound,  bear- 
ing the  following  inscription  :  "  Jacobo  Beattie,  in  priina  classe. 
"  ex  comitatu  Mernensi,*  post  examen  publicum  librum  hunc 
"  u^tTivovTi,  premium  dedit  T.  Blackwell,  Aprilis  3°  mdccl." 

As  his  finances  were  but  slender,  he  became  a  candidate  for  one 
of  the  bursaries,  which  are  annually  bestowed  on  such  of  the  stu- 
dents as  are  uniible  to  bear  the  pecuniary  expences  attendant  on  a 
university  education.  These  bursaries  are  small  annual  stipends, 
which  the  piety  of  our  ancestors,  and  their  zeal  for  the  advance- 
ment of  learning,  had  led  them  to  establish. 

But  no  opprobrious  distinction,  no  menial  office,  no  degrading 
servitude,  is  annexed  to  the  appellation  of  Bursar  at  Aberdeen, 
which  merely  implies  the  receipt  of  a  certain  revenue.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  proof  of  superior  merit.  For,  instead  of  being  a 
sinecure  into  which  the  student  is  inducted  without  formality,  it  is 
the  reward  of  learning,  after  a  competition  displayed  by  those  who 
are  the  candidates,  and  of  whose  literary  merits  the  professors  of 
the  university  are  the  Judges.  And  it  not  unfrequently  happens, 
as  was  the  case  of  young  Beattie,  that  the  Bursars,  by  being  the 
best  scholars,  are  found  at  the  head  of  their  class. t 

He  continued  his  attendance  at  the  university  of  Aberdeen 
during  four  years,  in  the  course  of  which,  besides  attending  the 
Greek  class,|  he  studied  philosophy  under  the  late  Dr  Gerard  ; 
and  during  three  sessions  he  attended  the  lectures  given  by  Dr 
Pollock,  at  that  time  professor  of  divinity,  in  Marischal  College,  no 
doubt  with  a  view  to  the  ministry  ;  a  pursuit,  however,  which  he 
soon  relinquished.  One  of  his  fellow-students  has  informed  me,  that 
during  their  attendance  at  the  divinity  hall,  he  heard  Beattie  de- 

/ 

•  "  The  Mearns,"  to  which  Dr  Blackwell  has  here  g;ivcn  a  Latin  termi- 
nation, is  the  vernacular  name  for  the  county  of  Kincardine. 

t  This  alludes  to  those  Bursaries  which  arc  in  tlie  gift  of  the  university, 
and  are  publicly  contended  for  by  every  candidate  who  chuses  to  make  liis 
appearance.  Besides  these  there  are  several  in  the  gift  of  private  patrons, 
who  bestow  them,  without  trial,  on  whom  they  please. 

I  As  apro.f  of  the  ardour  with  which  he  prosecuted  his  studies,  not  on)} 
while  he  .attended  the  regular  course  of  instruction  at  the  university,  but  even 
after  lie  had  ceased  to  be  an  academical  student,  he  wrote  a  book  of  notes  on 
the  Iliad,  which  l).as  beeji  found  among  his  pajjers  since  his  death.     It  con- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  13 

■liver  a  discourse,  which  met  with  much  commendation,  but  of  which 
it  was  remarked  by  the  audience,  that  he  spoke  poetry  in  prose.* 

Having  finished  his  course  of  study  at  the  university,  he  was 
appointed,  on  the  1st  day  of  August  1753,  to  be  schoolmaster 
«f  the  parish  of  Fordoun,  a  small  hamlet,  distant  about  six  milea 
from  his  native  village  of  Lawrencekirk,  at  the  foot  of  the  Gram- 
pian mountains,  where  he  also  filled  the  office  of  prsecentor  or. 
parish-clerk. 


Bists  of  one  hundred  and  forty  duodecitpo  pages,  closely  written.*  Tliere 
was  also  found  among  his  papers,  a  book  of  notes  on  some  of  the  Italian 
classics,  similar  to  those  on  Homer.  In  his  library  is  an  interleaved  copy  of 
Xenophon's  Memorabilia  of  Socrates,  divided  into  two  volumes,  with  very 
copious  notes  in  the  same  manner,  most  accurately  written  in  a  fair  hand  on 
the  interleaved  pages.  Longinus  on  the  Sublime  is  prepared  for  tlie  sam« 
purpose,  but  no  notes  are  written.  In  his  copy  of  Virgil  in  Usum  Delphini 
there  are  a  few  notes  written  by  him,  but  tliey  are  not  very  numerous,  nor 
longer  than  can  be  easily  contained  in  the  blank  spaces  of  the  book  itself. 
Yet  they  are  sometimes  not  unimportant ;  for  example,  ^neid.  VI.  v.  488.  he 
has  corrected  the  interpretation  of  tlie  editor  Ruaeus,  wlio  has  totally  misun- 
derstood the  meaning  of  the  expression  et  confcrre  gradum,  which  that  editor 
renders  et  admovere  pcdem  propius.  On  that  passage,  by  a  note  in  Dr  Beat- 
tie's  handwriting,  we  are  referred  to  Georg.  III.  v.  169.  where  the  same  ex- 
pression is  used,  when  Virgil  is  giving  directions  how  to  teach  heifers  to  walk 
side  by  side  to  fit  them  for  the  plough.  There  Ruseus  himself  could  not 
mistake  the  meaning  of  the  expression  (for  tiic  same  words  are  used)  and 
renders  it  as  it  ought  to  have  been  in  jEneid.  VI.  hy  sitnul  incedere.  From 
his  corrections  of  the  text  of  this  his  favourite  Latin  poet,  as  well  as  by  what 
lie  has  been  heard  to  say,  he  seems  to  have  preferred  the  readings  of  Nicho- 
las Heinsius.     In  his  library  are  several  beautiful  copies  of  Virgil. f 

*  It  is  told  in  the  same  manner  of  Thomson,  who  had  also  been  a  stu- 
dent of  divinity,  that  when  he  produced,  as  a  probationary  exercise,  the  ex- 
planation of  a  psalm,  the  professor  reproved  him  lor  speaking  a  language 
that  would  be  altogetlier  imintelligible  to  a  popular  audience  ;  which  so  dis- 
gusted Thomson  with  tlieological  pursuits,  tliat  he  resolved  to  betake  him- 
self entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  his  poetical  talents,  by  which  he  afterward*? 
BDSe  to  such  distinguished  emirtence.| 

•  vide  Appendix,  [A.] 
+  I  owe  the  substance  of  this  note  to  his  assistant  and  successor,  Mr  Glennie. 
%  IJr  Anderson's  Life  of  Thomsoa,  in  the  Poets  of  Great  Britain,  Vol.  ix.  p.  VH. 


14  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

In  this  obscure  sitviation  he  must  have  passed  many  ol  liia 
hours  in  solitude  ;  for  except  that  of  Mr  Forbes,  the  parish-minis- 
ter, who  shevA'ed  him  great  kindness,  and  in  whose  family  he  fre- 
quently visited,  he  had  scarcely  any  other  society  than  that  of  the 
neighbouring  peasantry,  from  whose  conversation  he  could  derive 
little  amusement,  and  no  information.  But  he  had  a  never  failing 
resource  in  his  own  mind,  in  those  meditations  which  he  loved  to 
indulge,  amidst  the  beautiful  and  sublime  scenery  of  that  neigh- 
bourhood, which  furnished  him  with  endless  amusement.  At  a 
small  distance  from  the  place  oi  his  residence,  a  deep  and  extensive 
glen,  finely  clothed  with  wood,  runs  up  into  the  mountains. 
Thither  he  frequently  repaired,  and  there  several  of  his  earliest 
pieces  were  wiitten.  From  that  wild  and  romantic  spot  he  drew 
as  from  the  life,  some  of  the  finest  descriptions,  and  most  beautiful 
pictures  of  nature,  in  his  poetical  compositions.  He  has  been  heard 
to  say,  for  instance,  that  the  description  of  the  owl,  in  his  charming 
poem  on  "  Retirement," 

*'  Whence  the  scar'd  owl,  on  pinions  grey, 

"  Breaks  from  the  rustling-  boug-hs, 

"  And  down  the  lone  vale  sails  away 

"  To  more  profound  repose."*  i 

was  drawn  after  real  nature.  And  the  seventeenth  stanza  of  the 
second  book  of  "  the  Minstrel,"  in  which  he  so  feelingly  describes 
the  spot  of  which  he  most  approved,  for  his  place  of  sepulture,  is 
so  very  exact  a  picture  of  the  situation  of  the  churchyard  of  Law>- 
rencekirk,  which  stands  near  to  his  mother's  house,  and  in  which 
is  the  school-house  where  he  was  daily  taught,  that  he  must  cer- 
tainly have  had  it  in  liis  view  at  the  time  he  wrote  the  following 
beautiful  lines. 


"  Let  vanity  adorn  tiie  marble  tomb 

•'  With  trophies,  rhymes,  and  scutcheons  of  renown, 

"  In  the  deep  dtingenn  of  some  Gothic  dome, 

*'  Where  nitiht  and  desolation  ever  frown. 


*  It  is  curious  to  compare  this  stanza  with  the  second  of  Gray's  Elcgii,-  in 
.-i  Country  Chui-ch  Yanl,  in  which  Uie  same  thought  occurs. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  B 

'>  Mine  be  the  breezy  hill  that  skirts  the  down, 
"  Where  a  green  grassy  turf  is  all  I  crave, 
"  With  here  and  there  a  violet  bestrown, 
•'  Fast  by  a  brook  or  fountain's  murmuring'  wave  ; 
'■*  And  many  an  evening  sun  shine  sweetly  on  my  grave."* 

It  was  his  supreme  delight  to  saunter  in  the  fields  the  lire-long 
night,  contemplating  the  sky,  and  marking  the  aproach  of  day  ; 
and  he  used  to  describe  with  peculiar  animation  the  pleasure  he 
received  from  the  soaring  of  the  lark  in  a  summer  morning.  A 
beautiful  landscape  which  he  has  magnificently  described  in  the 
twentieth  stanza  of  the  first  book  of  "  the  Minstrel,"  corresponds 
exactly  with  v/hat  must  have  presented  itself  to  his  poetical  ima- 
gination, on  tliose  occasions,  at  the  approach  of  the  rising  sun,  as 
iie  would  view  the  grandeur  of  that  scene  from  the  hill  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  his  native  village.  The  high  hill  which  rises  to  the 
west  of  Fordoun  would,  in  a  misty  morning,  supply  him  with  one 
of  the  images  so  beautifully  described  in  the  twenty-first  stanza. 

*  The  wish,  that  our  bones  should  be  laid  "in  the  sepulclire  with  our 
"  fathers,"  has  been  so  prevalent  in  all  ages,  that  it  seems  to  be  a  sentiment 
inherent  in  our  nature.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  local  scenery  where 
his  nearest  and  dearest  connexions  were  interred,  should  have  made  an  early 
and  deep  impression  on  the  mind  of  young  Beattie,  and  should  have  suggest- 
<hI  to  him  the  idea,  that  there,  perhaps,  might  be  his  own  place  of  sepulture. 

At  a  later  period,  however,  he  had  changed  his  design  in  that  respect; 
and  after  he  begaii  to  spend  so  much  of  his  time  at  Peterhead,  he  became 
ibnd  of  an  ancient  burying-ground,  at  .six  miles  distance,  wliere  had  originally 
stood  the  chiu'cli,  now  in  ruins,  of  the  parish  of  St  Fergus,  in  the  middle  of 
the  beautiful  links*  of  that  name.  Tliis  was  a  favourite  spot  of  Dr  Beattie's, 
wliere  he  mucli  deliglited  to  take  his  walks  of  meditation.  Combining  the 
idea  of  solitude  and  repose  with  the  solemn  i)urpose  to  which  the  scene  was 
devoted,  he  felt  a  more  than  common  interest  in  that  sequestered  spot,  and 
used  to  say  to  his  friends,  that  it  wfis  there  he  wished  his  remains  might  be 
laid.  With  that  view,  the  fir.st  season  in  which  his  niece,  Mrs  Glennie,  ac- 
companied him  to  Peterhead,  he  carried  her  to  visit  the  church-yard  in  the 
links  of  St  Fergus. 

It  was  the  recollection  of  that  circumstance  which  induced  Mrs  Glcmiie 
to  ask  him,  after  the  death  of  both  his  sons,  where  he  desired  to  I)e  interred  ? 
to  v.hicli  he  replied,  that  "lie  would  wish  his  body  to  be  laid  beside  those  of 
*'  his  two  sons,  rather  than  beside  that  of  the  greatest  monarch  upon  earth." 
He  was  accordingly  buried  at  Aberdeen. 

*  A  word  iracd  in  Scotland,  nearly  synonymous  with  what  in  Engl.ind  they  c.ill  "  Downs." 


16  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

And  the  twentieth  stanza  of  the  second  took  of "  the  Minstrer' 
describes  a  night-scene  unquestionably  drawn  from  nature,  in  which 
he  probably  had  in  view  Homer's  sublime  description  of  the 
moon,  in  the  eighth  book  of  the  Iliad,  so  admirably  translated  by 
Pope,  that  an  eminent  critic  has  not  scrupled  to  declare  it  to  be 
superior  to  the  original.*  He  used,  himself,  to  tell,  that  it  waa 
from  the  top  of  a  high  hill  in  the  neighbourhood  that  he  first 
beheld  the  ocean,  the  siglit  of  which,  he  declared,  made  the 
most  lively  impression  on  his  mind. 

It  is  pleasing,  I  think,  to  contemplate  these  his  early  habits,  s© 
congenial  to  the  feelings  of  a  poetical  and  warm  imagination;  and, 
therefore,  I  trust  I  shall  be  forgiven  for  having  dwelt  on  them 
so  long.t 

From  this  cheerless  want  of  society,  however,  he  was,  not  long 
after,  in  a  great  degree  relieved,  by  the  arrival  of  his  eldest  brother, 
David,  who  came  to  establish  himself  in  the  village  of  Fordoun, 
Although  he  was  eleven  years  older  than  our  author,  the  utmost 
cordiality  subsisted  between  the  two  brothers,  and  much  of  their 
time  was  spent  in  each  other's  company.  At  that  time  David, 
who  was  so  much  older  than  his  brother,  no  doubt  had  it  in  his 
power  to  do  him  considerable  service.  But  that  service  was  amply 
returned  in  the  course  of  their  after  lives,  by  Dr  Beattie,  who  took 
every  opportunity  of  assisting  his  brother  and  his  family.  And 
finally,  by  his  will,  he  left  to  David  a  legacy,  from  which,  how- 
ever, by  his  dying  before  Dr  Beattie,  he  did  not  derive  any  benefit. 

*  Melmoth's  Letters  of  Sir  Thomas  Fitzosborn,  letter  xx.  p.  85. 

f  It  must  have  been  about  this  period,  that  an  incident  happened  to  him, 
which  I  should  be  afraid  to  relate,  were  I  not  fully  persuaded  of  its  authen- 
ticity; I  never,  indeed,  myself  heard  him  mention  it ;  but  I  hare  perfect  con- 
fidence in  the  veracity  of  those  friends  to  \v  horn  he  has  frequently  told  the 
circumstance.  Having  lain  down,  early  in  the  morning,  on  the  bank  of  his 
favourite  rivulet  adjoining  to  his  mother's  house,  he  had  fallen  asleep;  oa 
awaking,  it  was  not  without  astonishment,  that  he  found  he  had  been  walk- 
ing in  liis  sleep,  and  that  he  was  then  at  a  considerable  distance  (about  a 
mile  and  a  half)  from  the  place  where  he  had  lain  down.  On  his  way  back 
to  that  spot,  he  passed  some  labourers,  and  enquiring  of  them,  if  they  Jiad 
-seen  him  walking  along,  they  told  him  that  they  had,  with  his  head  hanging 
(Jown,  as  if  he  hud  been  looking  for  something  he  had  lost.* 

*  vide  Apiiendix,  [B.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  17 

His  first  patron  was  the  late  Lord  Gardenstown,*  who,  being 
at  that  time  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Kincardine,  resided  occasion- 
ally at  Woodstock,  a  house  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Fourdoun. 
To  Beattie  Mr  Garden  became  accidentally  known,  by  his  hav- 
ing found  him  one  day  in  his  favourite  glen,  employed  in  writing 
with  a  pencil.  On  enquiring  what  he  was  about,  and  finding  that  he 
was  employed  in  the  composition  of  a  poem,  Mr  Garden's  curiosity 
was  attracted,  and  from  that  period  he  took  the  young  bard  under 
his  protection.  Dr  Beattie  has  been  frequently  heard  to  mention 
an  anecdote  which  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  his  acquaintance 
with  that  gentleman.  Mr  Garden,  having  seen  some  of  his  pieces 
in  manuscript,  and  entertaining  some  doubt  of  their  being  entirely 
of  his  own  composition,  in  order  to  satisfy  himself  of  the  abilities  of 
the  yovmg  poet,  asked  him,  with  politeness,  to  translate  the  invoca- 
tion to  Venus  from  the  first  book  of  Lucretius.  In  compliance 
with  this  request,  Beattie  retired  into  the  adjoining  wood,  and 
in  no  long  time  produced  the  translation,  bearing  all  the  marks  of 
original  composition,'  for  it  was  much  blotted  with  alterations  and 
corrections.  It  was  printed  in  the  first  collection  of  Dr  Beattie's 
poems  in  the  year  1760,  but  omitted  in  all  the  subsequent  editions. 

He  also  became  known  at  this  time  to  Lord  Monboddo,t  (whose 
family-seat  is  in  the  parish  of  Fordoun,)  with  whom  he  always 
maintained  a  friendly  intercourse,  although  they  essentially  dif- 
fered in  some  very  material  points,  as  must  be  very  apparent  to 
those  who  are  conversant  with  their  writings. 

*  Francis  Garden,  afterwards  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  courts  of 
civil  and  criminal  law  in  Scotland,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Gardenstown,  the 
same  who  is  mentioned  in  the  note  on  p.  9,  as  the  patron  of  the  village  of 
Lawrencekirk,  which  was  on  his  estate. 

t  James  Burnet  of  Monboddo,  also  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
of  law  in  Scotland,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Monboddo,  well  known  in  the  literary 
world  by  his  publications  on  the  origin  and  progress  of  language,  and  a  still 
more  extensive  work,  entitled,  "  Ancient  Metaphysics,"  in  which  he  has  in- 
dulged himself  in  not  a  few  paradoxical  and  fanciful  theories.  His  writings, 
however,  evince  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  learning  and  talents,  though  cre- 
dulous in  the  extreme.  He  died  at  Edinburgh,  May  26,  1799,  aged  85. 
The  beautiful  "  Elegy  written  in  the  year  1758,"  beginning  "  Still  shall  un- 
"  thinking  man  substantial  deem,"  was  written  by  Dr  Beattie,  on  the  death 
of  Mrs  Walker,  sister  of  Loi-d  Monboddo. 

c 


1^  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

He  continued  to  teach  the  school  of  Fordoun  till  the  year  1757, 
■when,  on  a  vacancy  happening  of  the  place  of  usher  in  the  gram- 
mai-school  of  Aberdeen,  his  friend,  Mr  Forbes,  minister  of  For- 
doun, advised  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  it.  He  accordingly 
offered  himself,  but  did  not  succeed.  He  acquitted  himself,  how- 
ever, so  well  in  his  examination  on  that  occasion,  that,  on  a  second 
vacancy  of  the  same  place  happening  about  a  year  afterwards,  the 
magistrates,  who  are  the  electors,  requested  him  to  accept  of  the 
office  without  any  further  triui ;  and  he  \vas  accordingly  elected 
to  it,  20th  June  1758,  soon  after  which  period  he  left  Fordoun,  and 
removed  to  Aberdeen. 


SECTION  II. 

FROM  DR  BEATTIe's  ESTABLISHMENT  AT  ABERDEEN  IN  THE  YEA"a 
1758,  TO  THE  PUBLICATION  OF  HIS  ESSAY  ON  TRUTH  IN  THE 
YEAR   1770. 


This  event  of  Beattie's  election  to  be  one  of  the  ushers  of 
the  g-ramniar-school  at  Aberdeen,  humble  as  the  appointment  was 
for  a  man  of  his  talents  and  acquired  knowledge,  yet  forms  a  memo- 
rable epoch  in  his  life.  It  removed  him  in  fact  from  the  obscurity 
in  which  he  had  hitherto  languished,  at  a  distance  from  books, 
Avith  few  friends,  and  with  but  little  of  the  blessings  of  congenial 
society,  to  a  large  and  populous  town,  the  seat  of  an  university, 
where  he  had  access  to  public  libraries  for  study,  and  the  opportu- 
nity of  cultivating  the  friendship  of  persons  of  taste  and  learning. 
Principal  Blackwell,  his  early  friend,  and  the  first  to  discover  his 
genius  and  talents,  was  now  dead.  But  the  two  universities  of 
Marischal  college.  New  Aberdeen,  and  King's  college.  Old  Aber- 
deen, could  boast  of  no  inconsiderable  number  of  men  of  genius 
and  learning,  with  whom  he  had  soon  the  happiness  of  becoming 
more  immediately  connected.  And  there  were  likewise  several 
gentlemen  at  that  time  at  Aberdeen,  though  not  of  the  class  of 
literary  men  by  profession,  yet  of  liberal  education  and  a  compe- 
tent degree  of  general  knowledge,  well  suited  to  the  taste  of  such  a 
person  as  Beattie,  who  delighted  to  associate  in  convivial  meetings, 
with  friends  whose  disposition  and  habits  were  congenial  with  his 
own. 

He  did  not  remain  long,  however,  in  the  humble  situation  of 
usher  of  the  grammar-school.  In  the  year  1760,  a  chair  in  the 
Marischal  college  and  university  of  Aberdeen,  became  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Dr  Duncan,  professor  of  natural  philosophy.  On 
Beattie's  relating  this  event,  merely  as  an  occurrence  of  the  day, 
to  a  gentleman  with  whom  he  lived  in  much  intimacy,  his  friend 
suggested  to  him  the  idea  of  his  endeavouring  to  procvu-e  the  vacant 


20  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

appointment  for  himself.  Beattie  heard  the  proposal  with  amaze- 
ment, conceiving  such  a  situation  to  be  an  object  altogether  beyond 
his  grasp.  And,  indeed,  few  things  seemed  less  likely  to  take 
place,  than  that  he  who  but  two  years  ago  had  filled  the  obscure 
office  of  a  country  parochial  school-master,  almost  friendless  and 
unknown,  should  succeed  in  obtaining  a  professor's  chair  in  the 
gift  of  the  crown.   His  friend,*  however,  willing  to  try  what  could 

•  The  gentleman,  to  whose  active  zeal  and  friendly  interposition,  on  this 
occasion,  Beattie  owed  so  much,  was  Robert  Arbuthnot,  esq.  secretary  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees  for  fisheries  and  manufactures  at  Edinbvu'gh,  but  who,  at 
that  time,  resided  chiefly,  and  carried  on  business  as  a  merchant,  at  Peter- 
head in  Aberdeenshire.  Beattie  and  he  had  become  acquainted  on  the  re- 
moval of  the  former  to  Aberdeen ;  and  a  friendship  was  soon  formed  between 
them,  which  terminated  only  with  their  lives.  Mr  Arbuthnot,  who  was 
nearly  related  to  the  celebrated  Dr  Arbuthnot,  the  friend  of  Pope  and  Swift, 
to  a  considerable  share  of  classical  learning,  added  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  best  authors  in  the  English  language,  particularly  in  poetry  and 
belles  lettres,  of  whom  he  well  knew  how  to  appreciate  the  respective  merits, 
and  with  the  most  favourite  passages  of  whose  works  his  memory  was  stored 
beyond  that  of  almost  any  man  I  ever  knew.  He  had  likewise  read  the  most 
esteemed  writers  in  the  French  and  Italian  languages.  By  these  means  his 
conversation  was  uncommonly  entei-taining  and  instructive.  He  possessed, 
likewise,  an  inexhaustible  flow  of  spirits,  which  had  helped  to  support  him 
through  a  variety  of  distressful  circumstances,  to  which  it  had  been  his  lot  to 
be  exposed.  And  to  all  this  he  added  a  vein  of  delicate  and  peculiar  humour, 
and  "  flashes  of  merriment  that  were  wont  to  set  the  table  in  a  roar." 

An  intimate  friendship  between  Mr  Arbuthnot  and  tlie  author  of  these 
Memoirs  had  commenced  at  an  earlier  period  than  tliat  at  which  either  of  us 
knew  Dr  Beattie,  whom  we  botli  equally  loved  as  a  friend,  and  admired  as  a 
writer  of  very  superior  genius.  We  had  the  happiness,  too,  of  possessing  In 
Major  Mercer,  of  whom  1  shall  have  occasion  to  say  more  hereafter,  another 
early  friend,  who  was  equally  attached  to  Dr  Beattie  by  long  habits  of  the 
strictest  intimacy.  Of  tlie  Doctor's  regard  for  all  the  three,  he  has  given  the 
strongest  proof;  first,  by  inscribing  to  us  the  collection  which  he  printed  of 
his  son's  miscellanies,  and  at  last  by  appointing  us  the  executors  of  his  Mill, 
and  the  trustees  of  his  property ;  bequeathlng_to  each,  at  the  same  time, 
Bome  memorial  of  his  kind  remembrance,  with  very  flattering  expressions 
of  esteem.*  From  those  gentlemen,  therefore,  so  intimately  acquainted  with 
Dr  Beattie,  and  in  whose  taste  and  judgment  on  literary  subjects  I  had  the 
fullest  confidence,  1  trusted  that  I  should  have  received  the  most  essential  aid, 
in  preparing,  by  our  united  efforts,  this  tribute  of  afTection  to  the  memory  of 
our  much  loved  friend.     But, 

•  Vid«  Dr  Beattie's  will.  Appendix,  [C.J 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  ^1 

be  done,  prevailed  on  the  late  Earl  of  ErroU  (father  of  the  present 
lord,)  with  whom  he  lived  in  much  intimacy,  to  apply,  by  means  of 
Lord  Milton,  to  the  late  duke  of  Argyll,  who  at  that  time  was  sup- 
posed to  have  the  chief  interest  in  the  disposal  of  such  offices  as 
became  vacant  in  Scotland ;  and,  fortunately  for  Beattie,  Lord 
ErroU  received  a  favoui'able  answer.  In  consequence  of  which,  on 
the  8th  of  October  1760,  he  was  installed  professor  of  moral  phi- 
losophy and  logic  in  Marischal  college. 

Dr  Duncan,*  whose  death  thus  made  Avay  for  Dr  Beattie's 
appointment,  was  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy.  But  the  pro- 
fessorship of  Moral  Philosophy  and  Logic  becoming  vacant  soon 
afterwards  by  the  resignation  of  Dr  Gerard,  on  his  being  appointed 
Professor  of  Divinity,  Dr  Skene,  who  was  also  a  candidate  for  one 
of  these  offices,  and  Dr  Beattie,  agreed,  that  the  professorship  of 
Moral  Philosophy  should  be  assigned  to  the  last,  as  more  suitable 
to  his  taste  and  disposition ;  and  that  of  Natural  Philosophy  to  Dr 
Skene.     They  were  both  installed  on  the  same  day.t 

By  this  honourable  appointment,  Dr  Beattie  found  himself 
raised  to  a  situation  of  much  respectability,  whei'e  he  could  give 
full  scope  to  his  talents,  and  indulge  his  favourite  propensity  of 

"  On  our  firmest  resolutions 

"  The  silent  and  inaudible  tread  of  Death 

«  Steals  like  a  thief." 

Major  "Mercer  and  Mr  Arbuthnot  survived  Dr  Beattie  only  a  very  short  s^ace 
of  time;  and  the  health  of  botli  liad  become  so  much  iriipaired,  as  to  render 
it  impossible  for  either  to  give  me  any  assistance.  A  misfortune  which  I  feel, 
as  I  proceed,  almost  in  every  page.  Mr  Arbuthnot  died  5th  of  November 
1803,  and  Major  Mercer,  18th  November  1804. 

*  The  transLitor  of"  Cicero's  Orations." 

f  As  an  expression  of  liis  gratitude  to  Lord  ErroU  for  this  most  impor- 
tant service,  he  dedicated  to  that  nobleman  lus  first  publication  of  a  volume 
of  poems.  And  when  his  eldest  son  was  born,  he  named  him  James  Hey 
Beaaie,  after  the  Christiiin  name  .and  surname  of  his  noble  patron,  for  whom 
he  ever  .ifter  entertained  tlie  highest  respect.  Lord  ErroU,  on  his  part, 
constantly  treated  Dr  Beattie  witli  the  most  friendly  regard;  so  that  he  was 
always  a  welcome  guest  at  Slalns-Castle,  the  seat  of  Lord  ErroU,  in  Aber- 
deenshire. For  some  farther  account  of  this  accomplished  nobleman,  vide 
Appendix,  [D]. 


ik  LII'E  OF  DR  BEATTIK. 

comniunicatini^  knowledge  of  the  most  important  nature,  and  thuS 
promotii;^  tii'j  o<,6i  interests  of  mankind. 

His  first  business  was  to  prepare  a  course  of  lectures,  which 
he  began  to  deliver  to  his  pupils  during  the  winter  session  of  the 
years  1760-1.  These  lectures  hu  continued  gradually  to  improve 
by  repeated  study,  till  he  brought  them  to  that  state  of  perfection 
of  which  some  idea  may  be  formed,  from  the  publication  of  his 
work,  entitled  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science,"  a  compendium  of  his 
lectures,  Avhich  he  prepared  and  pubiisned,  as  will  be  mentioned 
hereaiier,  for  the  use  of  his  students. 

HoAV  indefatigable  he  was  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his 
important  ofhce,  may  be  gatnered  from  a  very  curious  diary  found 
among  his  papers,  and  now  in  my  possession,  in  which  he  has 
noted  down  the  subject  of  each  lecture.  From  a  perusal  of  this 
diary  may  be  known  what  was  done  in  his  class  every  day,  during 
a  long  period  of  upwards  of  thirty  years.  It  exhibits,  not  only  the 
plan  of  his  lectures,  but  his  unwearied  diligence  in  the  conduct  of 
them.  For  he  did  not  content  himself,  as  it  v/ili  be  seen,  with 
merely  delivering  a  lecture  to  his  students.  He  laboured,  by  re- 
capitulations and  public  examiirjtions  in  his  class,  to  impress  on  the 
minds  of  Ir.s  auditors  the  great  and  important  doctrines  which  he 
taught.* 

Ainong  other  advantages  which  Dr  Beattie  derived  from  his 
removal  to  Aberdeen,  was  that  of  becoming  a  member  of  a  society 
which  at  that  time  subsisted  there,  composed  ci  iefly  of  professors 
of  King's  and  Maiischal  Colleges,  with  the  addition  of  several 
gentlemen  of  that  place,  of  a  literary  turn,  and  of  agreeable  con- 
versation. So  far  back  as  the  year  1742,  a  similar  society  had 
l)ccn  formed  there,  consisting  of  young  men,  who  were  stu- 
dents of  divinity  at  those  two  universities  of  New  and  Old  Aber- 
deen, in  which  the  pleasures  of  conversation  were  combined 
v.ith  the  pursuits  of  sacred  literature.  The  chief  founder  of 
liiis  society,  which  was  denouunated  the  Theological  Club,  was 
Dr  Campbell  ;t  besides  Avhom,  the  principal  members  were,  the 

*  Vlile  Appendi.\[E],  for  some  fkrlhcr  account  of  this  d'ary. 

t  The  Rev.  Dr  Geor(:;e  Cami^bell,  Principal  of  Marischal  College,  and 
Vrnfcssor  of  Divinit\ ,  dislinguislied  as  a  scholar  and  a  divine  by  his  valuable 
l^bblications;  in  the  cause  of  nligion;  in  p.irlicular,  his  "Essay  on  Miracles," 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.    .  23 

Reverend  Dr  John  Glennie,  who  afterwards  successfully  con- 
ducted an  academy  in  the  parish  of  Mary  Coulter,  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Kincardine,  of  which  he  was  minister,  to  a  very  advanced 
period  of  life  ;*  Dr  Trail,  afterwards  Lord  Bishop  of  Down  and 
Connor  in  Ireland;  and  the  Reverend  Mr  John  Skinner,  of  the 
Episcopal  church  of  Scotland,  author  of  an  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  Scotland,  who,  at  the  age  of  83,  is  now  the  only  surviving-  mem- 
ber of  the  society.  It  lasted  during  several  years,  until  most  of  its 
members,  having  been  settled  as  ministers  in  country  parishes, 
removed  to  a  considerable  distance  from  Aberdeen. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1758,  a  new  society  was  iormed 
chiefly  by  the  Reverend  Dr  Reid,t  and  his  friend  and  relation,  Dr 

in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  Mr  Hume,  has  been  esteemed  one  of  the  most 
acute  and  most  convincing  argumentative  ti'eatises  on  that  great  and  fun- 
damental docti'ine  of  revealed  religion,  that  has  ever  appeared.  His  trans- 
lation of  '*  the  four  Gospels,"  w  itii  the  accompanying  dissertations,  is  a  work 
of  much  erudition  :  and  his  "  Philosophy  of  Rethoric"  is  a  very  classical 
performance,  in  which  tlie  laws  of  elegant  composition  and  just  criticism  are 
laid  down  with  singular  taste  and  perspicuity.  Dr  Campbell,  with  whom  I 
had  the  happiness  of  being  long  intimately  acquainted,  besides  being  emi- 
nently learned  as  a  writer,  was  a  man  of  the  utmost  simplicity  of  manners 
and  naivete  of  character  ;  pleasant  and  agreeable  in  conversation,  and  most 
attentive  to  the  discliarge  of  all  the  duties  of  his  station  as  a  minister  of  tlie 
gospel,  and  a  public  instructor  of  the  youth  committed  to  his  care.  The 
strongest  friendship  and  strictest  intimacy  took  place,  at  a  veiy  early  period, 
between  Dr  Campbell  and  Dr  Beattie,  wliich  continued,  without  interrup- 
tion, to  the  close  of  Dr  Campbell's  life,  which  happened  at  Aberdeen,  6th 
April,  1796,  in  the  77'd^  year  of  his  age. 

*  To  the  memory  of  Dr  Glennie,  who  first  taught  me  the  rudiments  of 
learning,  when  1  attended  his  English  school  at  Aberdeen,  I  am  happy  in  the 
opportunity  of  thus  publicly  testliying  my  most  sincere  respect;  and  that 
gratitude  which  I  shall  ever  feel  towards  him  for  the  warm  interest  he  was 
])lease(l  to  take  in  the  direction  of  my  early  studies.  A  strong  and  mutual 
regard  subsisted  between  us  ever  after,  during  the  long  period  of  more  tlian 
half  a  century.  He  died  in  1801.  His  son  married  Dr  Bcattie's  niece,  and 
to  him  I  here  acknowledge  my  obligations  for  the  materials  with  wliich  he 
has  taken  the  trouble  to  furnish  me  for  the  early  part  of  the  life  of  Dr 
Beattie. 

t  The  Reverend  Dr  Thomas  Reid,  professor  first  at  Aberdeen,  afterwards 
in  the  university  of  Glasgow,  whose  "  Inquiry  into  the  Human  Mind,  on  the 
"  Principles  of  common  Sevise,"  and  his  "  Essays  on  the  intellectual  and 
"  active  Powers  of  Man"  have  deservedly  ranked  him  amoni^'  the  first  phi  ■ 


24  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

John  Gregory,*  on  a  more  extensive  plan,  for  the  discussion  of 
literary  and  philosophical  subjects.  The  original  members  were 
Dr  Read,  Dr  Gregory,  Dr  David  Skene,  a  physician  of  genius  and 
taste,  particylarly  skilful  in  botany  ;  the  Reverend  Dr  Robert  Trail, 
nephew  of  the  bishop  of  Down  and  Connor;  andDr  Stewart,  profes- 
sor of  mathematics,  in  Marischal  college.  To  these  were  afterwards 
added,  Dr  Gerard,t  Dr  George  Skene,  physician  and  professor  of 

losophical  and  metaphysical  writers  of  our  age.  He  left  Aberdeen  not  long 
after  Dr  Beattie  was  settled  there.  But  the  friendship  which  they  had  early 
contracted  for  eacli  other  continued  unabated  to  the  close  of  their  lives. 
For  farther  particulars  of  Dr  Reid,  who  died  in  the  year  1796,  in  his  87th 
year,  see  an  eleg-ant  and  well  written  account  of  his  life  by  my  friend  Pro- 
fessor Dugald  Stewart  of  Edinburgli, 

•  Dr  Jolm  Gregory,  at  that  time  professor  of  medicine  in  the  university 
of  Aberdeen,  with  whom  Dr  Beattie  became  early  acquainted ;  and  a  friend- 
ship was  formed  between  them,  of  the  sincerest  and  most  intimate  nature, 
which  lasted  unimpaired  to  the  death  of  Dr  Gregory.  Not  long  after  the 
penod  here  spoken  of,  he  removed  to  Edinburgh,  from  a  consciousness  of 
his  own  talents,  wliich  he  justly  deemed  calculated  for  a  more  extensive 
sphere  than  that  wherein  he  was  placed  at  Aberdeen.  In  Edinburgh  he 
soon  obtained  a  chair  in  that  celebrated  school  of  medicine,  was  honoured 
with  the  office  of  first  physician  to  liis  majesty  for  Scotland,  and  speedily 
arrived  at  high  eminence  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  His  publications 
of  "  A  comf)arative  View  of  the  State  and  FacuUies  of  Man,  with  those  of 
the  Animal  World,"  of  his  "  Lectures  on  the  Duties  and  Offices  of  a  Phy- 
sician," and  his  beautiful  little  address  to  his  daugliters,  published  after  his 
death  by  the  title  of  "  A  Father's  Legacy,"  show,  in  a  most  conspicuous 
point  of  view,  the  goodness  of  his  heart  as  a  man,  and  his  merit  as  a  philoso- 
pher. He  possessed  an  elegant  taste,  and  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
world.  He  was,  moreover,  a  person  of  much  piety,  and  a  Christian  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word.  Of  manners  uncommonly  gentle  and  engaging,  his 
society  was  courted  by  persons  of  the  first  distinction,  and  lie  lived  in  inti- 
macy with  the  most  eminent  literary  characters  of  his  time,  both  in  England 
and  Scotland.  He  honoured  me  very  early,  and  in  a  particulai*  degree,  with 
bis  friendship,  of  which  he  gave  the  most  unequivocal  pi'oof,  by  naming  me 
one  of  the  guardians  of  his  children.  And  I  now  look  back,  with  a  melan- 
choly satisf.iction,  to  the  many  pleasing  and  instructive  hours  I  h.ave  spent 
in  his  company.  For  a  more  particular  account  of  Dr  Gregory,  who  died 
9th  February  1773,  see  his  life,  written  by  Lord  Woodhouselee,  prefixed  to 
his  works. 

t  The  Reverend  Dr  Alexander  Gerard,  professor  of  divinity,  first  In  Ma- 
rischal College,  New  Aberdeen,  afterwards  in  King's  College,  Old  Aber- 
decn^  was  sHisth^r  of  tdiat  set  of  learned  and  philosophical  friends,   frow 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  3JS 

natural  philosopliy  in  the  same  university  ;  the  Reverend  Mr  John 
Farquhar,*  and  Dr  Beattie.  This  literary  society,  (or  rather  club, 
for  it  was  a  convivial  meeting  in  a  tavern,)  which  the  vulgar  and 
uninformed  denominated  the  IVise  Club,  subsisted  for  several  years, 
and  seems  to  have  had  the  happiest  effects  in  awakening  and 
directing  that  spirit  of  philosophical  research,  wiiich  has  reflected 
so  much  lustre  on  the  north  of  Scotland.  The  members  (says  the 
elegant  author  of  the  life  of  Dr  Gregory,)  were  persons  of  distin- 
guished abilities  and  learning,  attached  to  the  same  plan,  and 
engaged  in  similar  pursuits.  The  animosities  and  the  mean 
jealousies,  which  so  often  disgrace  the  characters  of  literary  men, 
were  unknown  to  those  friends,  who,  educated  in  one  school,  pro- 
•fessing  no  opposite  tenets,  or  contending  principles,  seem  to  have 
united  themselves  as  in  one  common  cause,  the  defence  of  virtue, 
of  religion,  and  of  truth. 

It  would  be  curious,  in  many  instances  (continues  the  author 
whom  I  quote,)  to  trace  the  history  of  those  literary  composidons, 
which  have  instructed  or  amused  the  world,  and  to  murk  their 
progress  from  their  first  rude  sketches  to  their  complete  form  and 
ultimate  perfection.  Some  of  the  most  udmired  works  of  those 
philosophers  I  have  mentioned,  owed  their  origin  to  this  literary 
society,  which  Avas  held  once  a  fortnight  in  Aberdeen,  on  the 
second  and. fourth  Wednesday  of  each  month.  The  members 
met  at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  (for  in  those  days  at  Aberdeen,  it 
was  the  custom  to  dine  early,)  when  one  of  the  members,  as 
president,  took  the  chair,  and  left  it  at  half  an  hour  after  eight, 
when  they  partook  of  a  slight  and  unexpensive  collation,  and  at  ten 
o'clock  they  separated.! 

whose  writiiig-s  those  two  universities  have  justly  derived  so  great  celebrity. 
He  was  distinguished  by  his  publications,  viz.  '•  An  Essay  on  Taste,"  to 
whicii  was  adjudged  the  gold  prize-medal  by  the  philosophical  society  of 
Edinburgh  ;  "  Dissertations  on  tlie  Genius  and  Evidences  of  Christianity;" 
"  An  Essay  on  Genius;"  and  two  volumes  of  sermons.  Dr  Beattie  and  he 
•were  constant  and  intimate  friends  from  their  first  acquaintance.  He  died 
22d  February  1795. 

*  Author  of  two  volumesof  excellent  sermons,  published  after  his  death, 
by  his  two  friends,  Dr  Campbell  and-  Dr  Gerard.  He  was  brother  to  sir 
Walter  Farquhar,  bart.  pliysician  in  London. 

t  Rules  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Aberdeen,  MS. 


26  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

At  these  meetings,  a  part  of  the  evening's  entertainment  was 
the  reading  a  short  essay,  composed  by  one  of  the  members  in  his 
turn.  Besides  those  more  formal  compositions,  thus  read  as  dis- 
courses, a  literary  or  philosophical  question  was  proposed  each 
night,  for  the  subject  of  conversation  at  the  subsequent  meeting. 
And  it  was  the  duty  of  the  proposer  of  the  question  to  open  the 
discussion ;  by  him  also  the  opinions  of  the  members  who  took  a 
part  in  it,  were  digested  into  the  form  of  an  essay,  which  was 
ingrossed  in  the  album  of  the  society. 

Of  such  an  institution  the  advantages  were  obvious  and  emi- 
nent. Besides  the  benefit  to  be  derived  to  the  members  from  a 
mutual  communication  of  their  sentiments  on  the  common  objects 
of  their  pursuit,  an  opportunity  was  afforded  of  subjecting  their 
intended  publications  to  the  test  of  friendly  criticism.  And  the 
many  valuable  works  which  issued  nearly  about  the  same  time 
from  individuals  connected  with  this  institution,  more  particularly 
the  writings  of  Rtid,  Campbell,  Beattie,  Gregory,  and  Gerard, 
furnish  the  best  panegyric  on  thcienlightened  views  of  those  under 
whose  direction  it  was  originally  planned,  and  by  whose  exertions 
it  was  so  successfully  carried  on.* 

But  it  was  not  solely  to  ethics,  metaphysics,  and  logic,  that  Dr 
Beattie  had  devoted  his  time  and  attention  at  this  period.  For  it 
appears  by  the  following  letter,  that  he  relaxed  his  mind  from  those 
severer  studies,  by  a  perusal  of  works  of  imagination,  by  which 
he  prepared  himself  for  the  composition  of  those  admirable  essays 
on  poetry,  and  other  subjects  of  taste,  which  he  afterwards  gave  to 
the  world. 

*  See  Appendix,  [F.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  37 

LETTER  I. 

DR    BEATTIE   TO    DR    JOHN    OGILVIE.* 

Aberdeen,  20th  August,  1759. 

I  HAD  intended  to  have  written  a  long  letter  on  the  oc- 
casion of  my  reading  "  Clarissa  ;"  and  I  actually  had  begun  one 
in  a  very  methodical  manner ;  but  happening  to  read  the  post- 
script t  afterwards,  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  very  subject  touched 
upon  there,  which  I  had  proposed  to  treat  of  in  my  intended  letter. 
I  therefore  changed  my  first  resolution,  judging  it  unnecessary  to 
trouble  you  with  reading  in  my  words  what  you  find  much  better 
expressed  in  that  postscript.  I  intended  to  have  inquired  into  the 
eonveniencies  and  disadvantages  of  Richardson's  manner  of 
writing,  compared  with  that  of  other  novelists  :  to  have  considered 
the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  the  cata.strophe ;  and  to  have  in- 
dulged what  other  critical  reflections  might  have  occurred  upon  the 
arrangement  of  the  narrations,  the  length  of  the  work,  and  a  few 
other  particulars.  But  finding  this  plan  executed,  as  I  said  before, 
in  the  postscript,  and  executed  in  a  manner  very  similar  to  that 
which  I  had  designed,  I  shall  trouble  you  at  present  only  with  a  few 
miscellaneous  observations  upon  that  celebrated  novel. 

"  The  author  shows  great  knowledge  of  mankind,  and  of 
human  nature.  He  possesses  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  original 
sentiment,  a  happy  talent  at  some  kinds  of  description,  particularly 
conversation  pieces  ;  he  delineates  some  characters  with  masterly 
and  distinguishing  strokes  ;  he  seems  to  be  well  acquainted  with 
the  human  heart,  and  with  the  particular  emotions  that  arise  in  it 
on  particular  occasions.  The  fervour  wherewith  he  recommends 
religion  and  virtue  intimates,  that  he  is  truly  in  earnest,  and  that 
his  heart  goes  along  with  his  pen. 

*  The  Reverend  Dr  John  Ojjilvie,  muiister  at  Midmar  In  Aberdeenshire, 
author  of  "  Providence,'"  and  other  poems  of  very  considerable  merit,  espe- 
cially his  earlier  lyric  compositions.  He  also  published  "  An  Enquiry  into 
"  the  Causes  of  the  Infidelity  and  Scepticism  of  the  Times,"  a  book  con- 
taining much  valuable  matter. 

t  To  "  Clarissa,"  referred  to  in  tlie  preface  of  the  work,  in  which  several 
objections  are  considered  by  the  author. 


28  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  On  reading  "  Clarissa,"  wc  immediately  discover  that  its 
design  is  more  to  instruct  than  to  amuse.     The  author  ivarns  the 
reader  of  this  in  his  preface,  and  again  repeats  it  in  the  postscript. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  they  who  read  more  for  amusement  than 
instruction  will  not  be  so  much  captivated  with  "  Clarissa"  as  with 
some  other  of  our  English  novels.     I  grant  there  are  in  the  novel 
before  us  a  great  many  passages  of  the  most  interesting  kind,  but 
these  passages  are  few  in  comparison  to  the  extent  of  the  work. 
I  cannot  help  thinking  that  our  author  is  often  tedious  to  a  fault. 
In  the  first  volumes  there  are,  if  I  mistake  not,  many  needless  (and  I 
had  almost  said  nauseating)  repetitions.   I  grant,  such  letters  as  fall 
under  this  censure  are  generally  characteristical,  are  often  humorous, 
often  instructive,  and  might  possibly  please,  if  we  were  to  read  the 
book  a  second  or  third  time,  when  we  are  acquainted  with  all  the 
characters,  and  all  the  particulars  of  the  story.     But  as  there  ai'e 
not  many  readers  who  can  afford  leisure  to  read  so  long  a  romance 
twice  or  thrice  over,  I  presume  proper  care  ought  to  have  been 
taken  to  blend  amusement  and  instruction  in  such  a  manner,  as  that 
the  one  might  be  a  heightening  and  seasoning  to  the  other.     When 
a  stop  is  put  to  tiie  progress  of  the  story,  in  order  to  give  the  author 
room  to  shew  his  talent  for  humour,  or  for  moralizing,  the  readers 
(especially  those  of  the  younger  sort,  for  Avhom  principally  such 
books  are  intended)  will  be  impatient  till  they  disentangle  them- 
selves of  these  digressions,  and  fall  in  again  with  the  story.     This, 
I  believe,  will  generally  be  the  case  if  the  narrative  be  deeply  in- 
teresting ;  and  deeply  interesting  every  narrative  of  this  kind  ought 
to  be.     One  of  the  rules  to  be  observed  in  the  Aristotelean  drama, 
is,  that   there  be  no  scene  in  the  piece  superfluous.     I  Avish  the 
author  of  "  Clarissa"  had  kept  some  such  rule  as  this  hi  his  eye ; 
that  he  had  disposed  all  the  parts  of  iiis  Avork  in  such  a  manner,  as 
that  the  reader,   though   always  impatient   for  the   catastrophe, 
should  never  be  tempted  to  pass  over  any  part,  but  should  ever 
find  the  story  rising  upon  him,  so  as  that  his  passion  for  novelty 
should  be  fully  gratified  all   along.     For  my  own   part,   I   was 
often  chagrined  at  his  tediousness,  and  frequently  was  obliged 
to  turn  to  the  contents   of  the  volume,   to   relieve  my  mind  a 
little  from  the  rack  of  unsatisfied  impatience ;  yet  I  doubt  not,  if  I 
were  now  to  read  "  Clarissa"  a  second  time,  I  sl.ould  find  these 
tedious  parts  not  the  least  useful.     Whoever  rails  at  Mr  Richard- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  29 

son*s  tedionsness  should  recollect,  that  his  design  is  more  to 
instruct  than  to  amuse ;  and  that  consequently  his  tediousness  is  a 
pardonable  fault,  as  the  motive  to  it  is  so  laudable. 

"  With  respect  to  the  characters  in  "  Clarissa,"  they  are,  I 
think,  in  [general,  particular  and  distinct  enough.  There  is  some- 
thing similar  in  the  characters  of  the  three  brothers,  Harlowes, 
and  at  the  same  time  something  peculiar  in  each.  The  same  thing 
may  be  observed,  upon  a  comparison  of  others  of  the  characters 
that  are  apparently  pretty  much  alike.  The  character  of  Lovelace 
is  wrought  up  with  great  art.  In  the  first  voiume  the  reader  sees 
something  amiable  enough  in  this  character,  sees  what  he  thinks 
almost  sufficient  to  engage  the  affections  of  Clarissa ;  nor  does  he 
discover  the  deep  designing  ruffian,  till  the  third  volume ;  and  yet 
so  consistent  are  Lovelace's  designs,  even  then,  with  that  charac- 
ter which  he  bears  at  the  beginning,  that  the  reader  is  not  disap- 
pointed when  he  comes  to  trace  out  his  vrllany. 

"  It  is  with  some  a  very  strong  objection  against  our  author, 
that  he  proposes  to  our  imitation,  what  they  call  a  perfect  character 
in  the  person  of  Clarissa.  Clarissa's  character  is  indeed  exalted, 
but  it  is  not  humanly  perfect.  And  in  proposing  a  character  some- 
thing more  than  humanly  perfect  to  our  imitation,  I  cannot  at  pi*e- 
sent  discern  any  absurdity.  For  is  it  not  recommended  to  those 
who  study  to  excel  in  any  art  or  science,  that  they  form  themselves 
after  the  most  perfect  models,  even  although  it  be  morally  impos- 
sible for  them  ever  to  attain  the  perfection  of  these  models  ?  Does 
not  the  celebrated  judge  of  the  sublime  very  strongly  recommend 
this  rule,  when  he  proposes  for  the  imitation  of  those  who  would 
attempt  epic  poetry  and  oratory,  no  less  perfect  patterns  than 
Homer  and  Demosthenes?  Nay,  (if  we  may  without  profanation, 
use  this  other  illustration)  does  not  the  scripture  enjoin  us  to  imi- 
tate the  great  Original  of  all  perfection?  This  rule  is  founded  in 
nature  and  reason.  If  the  model  be  imperfect,  the  copies  must  of 
consequence  be  more  imperfect;  and  so  liable  to  error  is  the  hu- 
man mind,  that  we  are  as  prone  to  imitate  the  faults  as  the  excel- 
lencies of  what  is  proposed  for  an  original  to  us.  Now,  shall  this 
rule  be  allowed  to  every  other  science,  and  not  to  the  most  impor- 
tant of  all  sciences,  the  science  of  life  and  manners  ?  I  know  the 
grand  objection  is,  that  to  give  a  man  or  woman  a  perfect  character 


'30  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

is  out  of  nature.     A  character  absolutely  perfect  does  not,  we  ik, 
knowledge,  belong  to  man. 

*'  But  what  height  of  excellence  even  a  human  soul  may  arrivc- 
at,  we  cannot  ascertain,  till  we  have  left  no  experiment  untried. 
One,  who  had  never  seen  the  tricks  of  a  wire  dancei',  would  be  apt 
to  ridicule  as  fabulous  the  first  accounts  he  should  hear  of  those 
astonishing  feats,  of  which  long  application  and  unwearied  industry 
make  these  performers  capable.  Who  can  tell,  what  happy,  what 
gloi'ious  eifects  might  be  produced,  were  an  equal  proportion  of 
industry  applied  to  the  regulation  of  the  passions,  and  tiie  strength- 
ening and  improving  the  reasonable  powers!  Let  not  then  the 
novelist  be  censured,  if  his  hero  or  heroine  be  possessed  of  a  pro- 
portion of  virtue  superior  to  what  we  have  discovered  in  our  ac- 
quaintance with  mankind;  provided  the  natural  genius  inherent  in 
the  hero  or  heroine,  assisted  by  the  improvements  of  the  happiest 
education,  be  sufficient  to  render  their  virtues  at  least  probable. 
Nature,  we  must  remembei',  had  endowed  Clarissa  with  a  genius 
of  the  most  exalted  kind,  and  a  temperament  of  soul  formed  to  re- 
ceive the  impressions  of  virtue.  This  genius,  and  this  disposition, 
improved  by  the  culture  of  a  liberal  and  strictly  virtuous  education, 
amid  the  simplicity  of  a  country  life,  could  not  fail  to  produce  an 
admirable  character.  Nor  do  I  think  this  character  (all  circum- 
stances considered)  stretched  beyond  the  limits  of  humanity. 
Clarissa's  external  conduct  was  indeed  unblameable  (and  I  hope, 
for  the  honour  of  mankind,  there  are  many  to  be  found  whose  ex- 
ternal conduct  is  unblameable),  but  she  often  acknowledges  her 
heart  was  not  so.  She  owns  she  was  conceited  and  puffed  up  in 
])er  happy  days,  and  not  entirely  proof  against  the  suggestions  of 
chagrin  and  despondency  in  her  adversity.  If,  then,  her  character 
be  perfect,  we  must  call  it  (as  we  before  called  it)  humanly  perfect. 

"  On  the  whole,  I  think  Mr  Richardson  is,  with  regard  to  the 
manners  of  his  heroine,  entirely  unworthy  of  blame. 

"  You  ask.  What  I  think  of  Richardson's  talents  for  the  pathe- 
tic ?  In  this  respect,  I  think  he  has  no  equals  among  his  own  tribe 
of  writers,  and  not  many  superiors  even  among  the  most  celebrated 
tragedians.  I  said  before,  that  he  seems  to  be  acquainted  with  the 
particular  emotions  that  arise  in  the  human  heart  on  particular  oc- 
casions.    Several  passages  of  his  work  I  could  point  out  in  proof 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  S! 

©f  this:  I  shall  only  at  present  give  one  instance,  and  that  is,  Cla- 
rissa's delirious  letter  to  Lovelace  (vol.  v.  p.  309.)  which  no  person 
can  read  without  sensible  emotion.  The  starts  of  phrenzy,  of 
phrenzy  in  such  a  person,  under  such  circumstances,  are,  I  think, 
hit  off  in  such  a  manner,  as  would  not  have  been  unworthy  of 
Shakespeare  himself.  I  shall  transcribe  a  few  lines  from  that  let- 
ter, Avith  which  I  cannot  tell  how  much  I  was  struck.  "  But  good, 
"  now,  Lovelace,  don't  set  Mrs  Sinclair  upon  me  again.  I  never 
"  did  her  any  harm.  She  so  affrights  me  when  I  see  her.  Ever 
"  since — W/ie7i  ivas  it?  I  cannot  tell.  You  can,  I  suppose."  This 
(When  ivas  it?)  suggests  a  great  deal  to  my  imagination.  It  is 
one  of  those  soul-harrowing  expressions  which  are  seldom  to  be 
met  with  but  in  Shakespeare,  and  which  are  infinitely  preferable 
to  all  the  laboured  harangues  and  verbose  descriptions  of  a  Dryden. 
I  must  add,  that  the  full  beauty  of  that  phrase  cannot  be  taken  in 
but  by  one,  who  is  well  acquainted  Avith  this  part  of  the  story.  The 
descriptions  of  the  arrest,  and  of  Clarissa's  death,  are  very  pathetic: 
and  the  author  shows,  by  his  account  of  the  infamous  Sinclair's 
fate,  that  he  has  no  mean  talent  at  describing  scenes  of  horror. 
There  is  something  dreadfully  striking  in  the  penknife  scene,  as  it 
is  called  (vol.  vi.  p.  60.)  But  as  it  is  needless  to  be  more  particular, 
I  cannot  dismiss  this  criticism,  without  taking  notice,  that  how- 
ever pathetic  the  account  of  the  lady's  misfortunes  may  be,  sorroiv 
will  not  (I  think)  be  the  prevailing  passion  in  one  who  peruses  it. 
If  I  mistake  not,  indignation  at  the  infernal  villany  of  the  ruffian, 
who  is  the  author  of  these  misfortunes,  will  not  a  little  contribute 
to  steel  the  heart  against  the  softer  impressions  of  sorrow,  at  least 
will  render  them  less  penetrating.  And  yet,  perhaps,  either  of 
these  passions  may  be  prevalent,  according  to  the  constitution  of 
the  reader. 

"  Richardson,  I  think,  merits  commendation  for  his  carefully 
avoiding  to  hint  the  least  anticipation  of  the  catastrophe,  in  the 
first  volumes.  The  reader  is  left  as  much  in  tiie  dark,  with  re- 
spect to  events,  as  the  interested  persons  themselves.  This  natu- 
rally results  from  the  manner  of  writing  Avliich  our  author  has 
chosen,  and  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  principal  excellencies  of  his 
manner,  compared  Avith  that  of  other  novelists.  But  this  matter  i*t 
handled  in  the  postscript  to  the  Avork. 


32  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  I  shall  have  done  with  my  criticism  on  "  Clarissa."  To  point 
out  faults  is  a  disagreeable  task ;  I  choose  rather  to  insist  upon- 
beauties.  Richardson,  upon  the  whole,  is  an  original  writer  ;  and 
deserves  well  of  his  country,  for  giving  it  one  of  the  most  useful 
novels  in  the  English  language. 

"  After  allowing  this  wi-iter  so  large  a  share  of  merit,  perhaps 
it  may  be  thought  too  trifling  to  censure  his  style.  It  is,  indeed, 
sometimes  very  expressive.  To  have  raised  it  above  the  familiar 
had  been  faulty.  He  has  often  coined  words,  which,  in  a  literary 
correspondence,  is  allowable.  He  varies  his  style  with  great  judg- 
ment, and  adapts  it  admirably  to  the  different  characters.  If  I 
Avere  to  find  fault  with  it  at  all,  I  would  only  say,  that,  from  an  over- 
affectation  of  the  familiar,  he  too  often  uses  the  parenthesis  ;  and 
as  he  seldom  unites  the  latter  part  of  the  period  with  the  former, 
by  a  reca/iitulating  word  or  tv/o,  he  lays  his  reader  under  the  neces- 
sity, especially  where  the  parenthesis  is  long,  of  reading  the  sen- 
tence once  and  again,  before  he  can  catch  the  meaning  and  intent 
of  the  whole.  I  think  the  parenthesis  ought  to  be  used  very  spa- 
ringly ;  and  when  an  author  chooses  to  use  it,  he  should  con- 
descend so  far  to  the  weakness  of  his  reader's  memory,  as  to  unite 
the  disjoined  parts  of  the  period  by  a  few  recapitulating  words,  as  I 
venture  to  call  them,  prefixed  to  the  latter  clause. 

"  I  was  surprised  to  find,  at  the  end  of  such  a  work  as  "  Tlie 
"  History  of  Clarissa,'*  a  set  of  verses  so  very  paltry  as  those  in- 
scribed to  the  author  of  "  Clarissa."  But  I  believe  authors  are  on 
such  occasions  often  at  a  loss,  and  find  themselves  obliged  to  pre- 
fer, not  the  quality  of  the  complimentary  verses,  but  the  quality  of 
the  friendly  rhymers  themselves ;  otherwise  I  should  venture  to 
pronounce  Mr  Richardson  an  inadequate  judge  of  poetical  merit. 
Take  the  following  four  lines,  and  tell  me  if  you  have  ever  seen 
more  prosaic  doggerel  ? 

•'  With  streaming'  eyes,  too  late,  the  moUier  blames 
"  Her  tame  submission  to  the  tyrant,  James  i 
"  Even  he,  the  g-loomy  father,  o'er  the  hearse 
"'  Laments  his  raslmess,  and  recals  his  curse."* 

*  It  is  pleasing-  to  compare  this  criticism  of  Dr  Beattie's,  on  Richardson's 
'*  Clarissa,"  written  when  a  very  young  man,  in  a  private  letter  to  a  friend, 
with  that  which  he  afterwards  gave  to  the  world,  at  the  distance  of  four  and 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  33 

Dr  Beattie,  as  has  been  already  mentioned,  had  given  early- 
indications  of  poetical  genius.  This,  however,  he  had  merely  em- 
ployed for  the  amusement  of  himself  and  his  friends.  He  had  in- 
deed occasionally  sent  some  verses  to  the  Scots  Magazhie,  published 
at  Edinburgh.*  But  his  first  appearance  in  print,  in  his  own  cha- 
racter, was  by  the  publication,  in  London,  in  the  year  1760,  of  a 
small  collection,  entitled,  "  Original  Poems  and  Translations," 
to  wliich  he  prefixed  his  name,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  Earl  of 
Erroll,  in  testimony  of  gratitude  to  that  nobleman,  to  whom  he 
was  indebted  for  his  chair  in  the  university f. 

twenty  jeai's,  in  Lis  "  Dissertation  on  Fable  and  Romance  ;"*  whence  it 
A\  ill  be  seen  liow  acciirately  he  had  formed  his  opinion  on  the  subject,  at  SQ 
early  a  period  of  life. 

*  In  the  Scots  Magazine  for  the  yeai-  1756,  p.  391,  will  be  found  a  poem 
written  by  Dr  Beattie,  on  reading  the  declaration  of  war,  signed  "J.  B. 
Kincardineshire,  7th  yune,  1756."  In  the  same  Magazine,  for  the  year  1757, 
p.  258,  there  is  an  epitapli  with  the  following  words  prefixed,  designed  for 
its  author,  which  was  signed  Moriturus,  K — d — esh — e,  evidently  Kincardine- 
shire, like  tlie  former,  which  was  certainly  written  by  him  ;  as  the  epitaph 
in  the  first  edition  of  his  Poems,  p.  66.  contains  nearly  the  same  thought, 
and  the  last  stanza  verbatim.  In  the  Scots  Magazine  for  1758,  p.  482,  is 
the  "  Ode  to  Peace,"  signed  Aberdeen,  y.  B.  In  tlie  Scots  Magazine,  1759, 
p.  134,  is  the  "  Elegy  on  the  death  of  Mrs.  Walker,"  signed  y.  B.  Aberdeen, 
Feb.  1759.  In  the  same  year,  page  303,  is  the  "  Epitaph  for  a  Messenger," 
'written  and  published  at  the  particular  desire  <f  the  person  for  ixdiotn  it  "was  in- 
tended.  It  is  signed,  Mont.  Abd.  Ford,  yune  28,  1759.  The  contracted  words 
are  for  Montrose,  Aberdeen,  Fordoun. 

t  The  contents  of  this  small  volume  were  ; 

•'  Ode  to  Peace. 

"  Retirement,  an  Ode. 

"  Ode  to  Hojje. 

"  Tlie  Triumph  of  Melancholy. 

"  An  Elegy  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  a  Lady. 

"  The  Hares,  a  Fable, 

X''  Epitaph. 

\"  Epitaph  on  Two  Brothers. 

•'  Elegy. 

^"  Song  in  imitation  of  Shakespeare. 

\"  Anacreon,  Ode  22.  translated. 

I"  Invocation  to  Venus  from  Lucretius,  translated. 

*  Dissert,  on  Fable  and  Romance,  p.  567. 
E 


S4  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

This  collection  was  very  favourably  received,  and  stamped  Dr 
Beattie  with  the  character  of  a  poet  of  great  and  original  genius. 
The  public  judgment  in  his  favour  must  be  considered,  too,  as  the 
more  valuable,  and  indeed  cannot  by  ony  means  be  suspected  of 
partiality,  when  it  is  considered,  that  the  poems  were  presented  to 
the  "world  without  any  patronage,  and  with  nothing  but  their  own 
intrinsic  merit  to  recommend  them  :  for  the  name  of  the  author 
had  never  been  so  much  as  heard  of  in  London  previous  to  their 
publication.  The  harmony  of  his  numbers,  however,  the  sim- 
plicity, yet  force  and  elegance  of  his  diction,  the  brightness  of  his 
fancy,  as  well  as  the  correct  and  appropriate  sentiments  throughout, 
were  of  themselves  sufficient  to  command  the  applause  of  every 
competent  judge. 

Of  the  pieces  in  this  collection,  all  are  certainly  not  of  equal 
merit.  While  the  odes  to  "  Peace,"  to  "  Hope,"  on  "  Retire- 
ment," breathe  the  true  spirit  of  lyric  poetry,  and  some  of  the  ele- 
giac poems  are  highly  pathetic  and  affecting,  fable  seems  to  be  a 
species  of  composition  for  which  he  had  but  little  genius.  It  may 
therefore  probably  excite  some  Avonder,  that  while,  in  the  subse- 
quent editions  of  his  poems  he  chose  to  retain  the  "  Hares,"  a 
poem  which  seems  to  possess  little  other  merit  than  smooth  versi- 
fication and  a  faultless  moral,  he  should  have  omitted  his  beautiful 
"  Ode  to  Peace,"  and  the  "  Triumph  of  Melancholy."  The  con- 
cluding dozen  lines  of  the  "  Hares,"  indeed,  present  a  beautiful 
and  glov.'ing  picture  of  "  Evening,"  and  as  such  are  deserving  of 
no  ordinary  commendation*. 

In  tliis  respect,  however,  Dr  Beattie  is  not  the  first  poet,  who 
has  entertained  a  judgment  of  his  own  works,  diff'creut  from  that 
which  was  held  of  them  by  the  public.     It  is  known,  that  Milton 

I"  Horace,  Book  II.  Ode  10.  translated. 
I"  Horace,  Book  III.  Ode  13.  translated. 
\"  Tiie  Ten  Pastorals  of  Virgil,  translated. 

Those  pieces  marked |:,  were  never  reprinted;  and  tlie  "  OJe  to  Peace," 
as  well  as  the  "  Triumph  of  Melancholy,"  were  omitted  out  of  liis  later  edi- 
tions. 

*  The  concluding  lines  of  the  "  Hares"  seem  to  me  to  possess  beauty 
sufficient  to  entitle  tliem  to  preservation.  I  have  therefore  ventured  tei 
place  them  in  the  .-ippendix,  [F.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  35 

preferred  the  "  Paradise  Regained"  to  liis  divine  poem  of  "  Para- 
"  dise  Lost."  Virgil  is  recorded  to  have  ordered,  on  his  death- 
bed, that  the  "  iEneid"  should  be  burnt,  because  he  did  not  think 
it  sufficiently  finished  for  publication  ;  and  it  is  to  the  disobedience 
of  his  executors  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  possession  of  that  ex- 
quisite performance.  Tasso  new-modelled  and  injured  his  "  Gie- 
rusalemme  liberata."  And  it  may  reasonably  be  doubted,  from 
the  specimen  which  Akenside  has  left  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
intended  to  alter  his  "•  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,"  whether  that 
beautiful  poem  would  have  been  improved  by  the  experiment,  had 
he  lived  to  finish  it.  With  all  these  authorities  before  me,  I  trust 
I  shall  stand  acquitted  of  any  impropriety,  if  I  rescue  from  oblivion 
those  two  most  beautiful  poems,  the  "  Ode  to  Peace,"  and  the 
"  Triumph  of  Melancholy."  Let  those  who  think  differently  from 
me,  in  this  respect,  only  take  the  trouble  carefully  to  peruse  the 
stanza  III.  1.  of  t^.e  "  Ode  to  Peace." — 

"  Ambition,  outside  fair !  within  as  foul 

"  As  fiends  of  fiercest  heart  below, 

"  Who  ride  t'le  hurricanes  of  fire,  that  roll 

"  Their  tluindcring  vortex  o'er  the  realms  of  woe, 

"  Yon  naked  waste  survey  ; 

"  Where  late  was  heard  the  flute's  mellifluous  lay; 

"  Where  late  the  rosy-bosom'd  iiours 

"  In  loose  array  danc'd  lightly  o'er  the  flow'rs  ; 

"  Wliere  late  the  sliepiierd  told  his  tender  tale  ; 

"  And,  waken'd  by  the  murmuring  breeze  of  morn, 

"  Tlie  voice  of  cheerful  labour  fill'd  the  dale; 

"  And  dove-eyed  Plenty  smil'd,  and  wav'd  her  liberal  hoi'ii.'^ 

Or  stanza  IV.  3.  of  the  same  poem, — 

"  Oil  Cuba's  utmost  steep,* 

"  Far  leaning  o'er  the  deep, 

"  The  goddess'  pensive  form  was  seen, 

"  Her  robe,  of  nature's  varied  green, 

"  Wav'd  on  the  gale  ;  grief  dimm'd  her  radiant  eyes, 

"  Her  bosom  heav'd  with  boding  siglis." 

•  This  alludes  to  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Si)aniards  under  Co- 
lumbus. Tliose  ravagers  are  said  to  have  made  their  first  descent  on  the 
islands  in  the  Gulf  of  Florida,  of  which  Cuba  is  one. — Note  of  the  poet. 


36  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  She  eyed  the  main  ;  wheTe  gaining  on  the  vicv\-, 

"  Emerging  from  th'  ethereal  blue, 

"  Midst  the  dread  pomp  of  war, 

"  Blaz'd  the  Iberian  streamer  from  afar  r 

"  She  saw  ;  and  on  refulgent  pinions  borne, 

"  Slow  wing'd  her  way  sublime,  and  mingled  with  the  morn.'" 

And  then  let  them  say,  if  they  think  I  have  done  wrong  in  pre- 
serving this  fine  poem,  by  placing  it  in  the  appendix.*  For  simi- 
lar reasons,  I  have  also  inserted  in  the  appendix,  the  "  Triumph 
«  of  Melancholy,"  wisliing  that  this  poem  also  should  not  be  in- 
tirely  lost.f 

The  epitaph,  printed  at  p.  66.  of  the  collection  of  the  year 
1760,  without  any  particular  address,  I  have  also  ventured  to  place 
in  the  appendix  ;  because,  from  the  words  prefixed  to  it  in  its 
original  form,  in  the  Scots  Magazine,  which  I  have  already  quoted, 
it  seems  certainly  to  have  been  intended  as  an  epitaph  for  himself, 
a  circumstance  whence  it  unquestionably  derives  an  additional 
value. 

The  beautiful  "  Epitaph  on  two  Brothers"  was  written  on  oc- 
casion of  a  fatal  accident  which  actually  took  place,  when,  in  cross- 
ing the  river  Southesk,  on  horseback,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Montrose,  in  the  county  of  Angus,  two  young  men,  brothers,  of 
the  name  of  Leitch,  were  carried  down  by  the  stream,  and  both 
drowned.  Their  bodies  were  afterwards  found  clasped  in  each 
other's  arms.  In  such  compositions  it  was  that  Dr  Beattie  emi- 
nently excelled.  Yet  that  piece  too  he  has  omitted  from  the  later 
editions  of  \iis  poems,  but  1  have  \tntured  to  place  it  also  in  the 
appendix. :t 

Of  this  collection  of  Dr  Beattie's  poetical  pieces,  the  largest 
^hare  consisted  of  poetical  translations  from  the  classics,  and  of 
these  the  principal  were  the  "  Pastorals  of  Virgil."  Speaking  of 
them,  he  says  in  his  preface,  that  "  Mr  Dryden's  translation  will 
"  be  admired  as  long  as  the  English  language  is  understood,  for 
"  that  fluent  and  graceful  energy  of  expression,  which  distinguishes 
*'  all  the  Avritings  of  that   poet.     In  his  compositions,"  continues 

*  Vide  Appendix,  [G.]  f  Vjde  Appendix,  [H.] 

I  Vide  Appendix,  [I.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  sr 

Beattie,  "  even  in  those  which  have  been  censured  as  inaccurate, 
"  "We  are  charmed  with 

"  Thoughts  that  breathe,  and  words  thai  burn." 

?'  And  if  we  find  any  thing  blameable,  we  are  inclined  to  impute  it, 
"  not  to  any  defect  in  his  own  genius  or  taste,  but  to  the  depravity 
'^  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  his  misfortune  to  live. 

"  The  translation  of  Virgil,  published  some  years  ago  by  the 
"  learned  and  ingenious  Mr  Joseph  Warton,"  he  goes  on, "  did  not 
"  come  into  my  hands  till  long  after  wliat  is  now  offered  to  the 
"  public  was  finished.  The  perusal  of  these  two  masterly  ver- 
"  sions,"  he  says,  "  might  have  effectually  discouraged  the  publi- 
"  cation  of  the  following,  had  he  ever  intended  it  as  a  rival  to 
"  either  of  the  others.  But  he  disclaims  that  intention,  and  would 
"  wish  only  to  be  thought  an  humble  copier  of  Virgil.  And  he 
''  hopes  that  his  translation  will  be  pardoned,  if,  in  a  few  particular 
•^  instances,  it  be  found  to  have  set  any  of  the  beauties  of  the  ad- 
^'  mired  original  in  a  more  conspicuous  point  of  view  to  the  Eng- 
*'  lish  reader," 

After  a  declaration  so  modest  on  the  part  of  the  author,  it  would 
not  be  fair  to  scrutinize  this  translation  too  severely,  more  espe- 
cially as  it  was  never  republished  after  the  first  edition ;  yet  it  is  no 
mean  praise,  that  it  may  be  read  with  satisfaction  even  after  the 
translation  of  Dryden,  of  which  Dr  Johnson,  in  his  life  of  that  great 
poet,  speaks  with  such  high  commendation:*  and  whoever  shall 
take  the  trouble  of  comparing  the  translations  of  Dryden  and 
of  Beattie,  with  the  original,  will  not  probably  deny,  that  Beattie 
comes  the  nearest  to  the  sense  of  the  author,  with,  at  the  same 
time,  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  poetical  spirit. f 

After  all,  a  better  translation  of  Virgil  than  any  v  q  yet  have 
seen,  seems  to  be  a  work  more  to  be  wished  for  than  expected.  Dr 
Beattie  himself  has  said  in  another  place,  that  "  It  is  noL  possible 
"  for  one  who  is  ignorant  of  Latin,  to  have  any  adequate  notion  of 

'  Lives  of  llie  Eng-risii  Poets,  vol.  ii.  12:tio.  p.  283. 
•J  Vi'le  Apjicndlx,  [K.] 


38  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Virgil.  The  choice  of  his  words,  and  the  modulation  of  his 
"  numbers,  have  never  been  copied  with  tolerable  success  in  any 
"  other  tongue.* 

In  the  following  letter  we  have  an  account  of  one  of  those  co- 
incidences in  writing-,  of  which  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  say, 
whether  they  happen  by  accident,  or  are  to  be  classed  under  the 
head  of  plagiarism. 

It  seems  to  me  to  be  by  no  means  improbable,  that  both  the 
translator  of  Musxus  and  Dr  Beattie  may  have  written  the  line  in 
question  under  an  impression  on  the  memory,  even  unknown  to 
themselves,  of  the  beautiful  threnody  of  David  on  the  deaths  of 
Saul  and  Jonathan,  in  which  the  roynl  Hebrew  bard  employs  the 
very  same  turn  of  expression.! 

LETTER  II. 

JDR    BEATTIE    TO    KOBERT    ARBUTHNOT,    ESq. 

Aberdeen,  18th  August,  1760. 

"  IN  a  translation  just  published  of  Musxus's  Loves  of  Hero 
"  and  Leander,"  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  following  line, 

•'  They  liv'd  united,  and  united  died ; 

which  is  exactly  the  same  with  one  in  my  epitaph  on  the  two  bro- 
thers. In  order  to  obviate  the  imputation  commonly  applied  in 
such  cases,  I  have  subjoined  the  date  to  my  little  piece,  which 
(juxta  MS.  vetus)  appears  to  be  the  first  of  November  1757. 
Instances  of  this  sameness  in  expression,  as  well  as  sentiment, 
have  so  often  happened,  even  in  my  experience,  that  I  have  won- 
dered at  some  of  the  criterions  proposed  for  the  detection  of  imita- 
tions, by  the  accurate  and  judicious  Mr  Hurd:j:  in  his  letters  to  Mr 

*  Essays  on  the  Utility  of  Classical  Learning',  p.  758. 

t  2  Kings,  ch.  i.  v.  23. 

:j;  The  present  Lord  Bishop  of  Worcester. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  39 

Mason.  I  remember,  in  particular,  he  will  not  allow  Milton^the 
honour  of  making  Death 

"  Grin  horribly  a  ghastly  smile," 

because  Spencer  mentions  grinning  in  some  part  of  his  Fairy 
Queen.  That  pamphlet  of  Mr  Hurd's  is,  notwithstanding,  an  in- 
genious performance,  and  e\dnces  a  great  compass  of  classical 
knowledge  both  ancient  and  modern. 

"  I  have  never  yet  seen  the  "  Fragments  of  Highland  Poetry." 
I  see  one  of  these  fragments  versified  in  a  late  Magazine,  and  to 
better  purpose  (a  few  passages  excepted),  than  I  did  expect.  But 
does  not  the  spirit  of  such  compositions  evaporate,  when  it  is 
strained  through  t'le  syllable-squeezing  alembic  ?  Did  you  ever 
see  a  version  of  the  Psalms  of  David  in  metre,  of  Job,  or  the  Song 
of  Solomon,  that  possessed  all  the  pathos,  and  simplicity,  and  sub- 
limity of  our  prose  translation  ?  The  motley  mixture  of  antique 
and*  modish  phrases,  that  must  necessainly  take  place  in  all  such 
paraphrases,  gives  a  grotesque  appearance  to  the  whole,  and  puts 
one  in  mind  of  Cato  arrayed  in  a  full-bottomed  periwig." 


The  following  letter  contains  some  strictures  on  Rousseau's 
«'  Eloise,"  of  which  he  afterwards  gave  a  short  character  in  his 
"  Dissertation  on  Fable  and  Romance,"  p.  570. 


LETTER  in. 

DB  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESQ. 

Aberdeen,  24th  October,  1T61. 

"  I  AM  just  now  employed  in  reading  the  first  volume  of  the 
"  Nouvelle  Eloise."  The  author  seems  to  possess  great  knowled"-e 
of  the  human  heart :  his  reflections,  in  general,  are  beautiful,  ori- 
ginal, and  just ;  his  sensibiiity  exquisite,  and  his  eloquence  won- 
derfully affecting.  But  though  I  grant  him  these  excellencies,  I 
must  be  pardoned,  when  I  censure  either  his  judgment  or  his  vir- 


40  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

tue.  If  he  meant  to  promote  the  cause  of  virtue,  it  was  certainly 
a  proof  of  an  egregious  failure  in  his  judgment,  that  he  made 
choice  of  a  fable  whose  tendency  seems  directly  contrary.  Van- 
brugh,  and  Congreve,  and  Rochester,  only  inflame  the  imagina- 
tion ;  Rousseau  poisons  tlie  principles,  and  misleads  the  under- 
Standing;  the  former  is  a  momentary  evil,  the  other  is  permanent. 
And  as  a  harlot,  when  she  assumes  the  garb,  the  features,  and  the 
language  of  virtue,  is  much  more  dangerous  than  when  she  speaks 
her  own  words,  and  wears  her  proper  dress ;  so  I  think  the  ''  Nou- 
"  velle  Eloise"  a  much  more  dangerous  book  than  all  the  ribaldry 
printed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second." 


The  following  letter,  written  at  the  period  when  Ossian's  poems 
made  their  first  appearance,  shows  the  accuracy  of  Dr  Beattie's 
critical  taste  and  judgment,  which  could  not  be  swayed  from  the 
genuine  dictates  of  truth  and  nature  in  poetry,  even  by  the  strong 
torrent  of  applause  with  which  that  singular  production  was  re- 
ceived at  that  time,  by  th«  learned  as  well  as  unlearned  of  this 
country. 

LETTER  IV. 

DIl   BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBU THNO T,  ESq. 

Aberdeen,  29th  March,  1762 

"  I  HAVE  now  read  Fingal  ;  but  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know 
whether  I  should  give  you  my  opinion  of  it  or  not.  My  humble 
tribute  of  praise  (were  I  disposed  to  praise  it)  would  be  lost  aniidst 
that  universal  deluge  of  approbation  poured  upon  it,  both  from  the 
critics  of  London  and  of  Scotland.  And  were  I  inclined  to  censure 
it,  my  suffrage  would  be  as  little  regarded  as  the  loitering  javelin 
which  palsied  Priam  threw  against  the  heaven-tempered  shield  of 
Pyrrhus — lelum  imbellc  sine  ictii.  The  particular  beauties  of  this 
wonderful  work  are  irresistibly  striking,  and  I  flatter  myself  that 
I  am  as  sensible  of  them  as  another.  But  to  that  part  of  its  merit 
wliich  exalts  it,  considered  as  a  whole,  above  the  Iliad  or  TEneid, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  41 

and  its  author  above  Homer  or  Virgil,  I  am  insensible.  Yet  I  un- 
derstand, that  of  critics  not  a  few  aver  Ossian  to  have  been  a  greater 
genius  than  either  of  these  poets.  Yet  a  little  while,  and.  1  doubt 
not,  the  world  will  be  of  a  different  opinion.  Homer  was  as  much 
admired  about  three  months  ago — I  speak  not  of  the  present  mo- 
ment, for  Ossian  just  now  is  all  in  all — I  say.  Homer  was  lately 
admired  as  much  as  he  was  three  thousand  years  ago.  Will  the 
admiration  of  our  Highland  bard  be  as  permanent?  And  will  it  be 
as  universal  as  learning  itself  r 

"  Knowledge  of  the  human  heart  is  a  science  of  the  highest 
dignity.  It  is  recommended  not  only  by  its  own  importance,  but 
also  by  this,  that  none  but  an  exalted  genius  is  capable  of  it.  To 
delineate  the  objects  of  the  material  world  requires  a  fine  imagina- 
tion, but  to  penetrate  into  the  mental  system,  and  to  describe  its 
different  objects,  with  all  their  distinguishing  (though  sometimes 
almost  imperceptible)  peculiarities,  requires  an  imagination  far 
more  extensive  and  vigorous.  It  is  this  kind  of  imagination  which 
appears  so  conspicuous  in  the  works  of  Shakespeare  and  Homer, 
and  which,  in  my  opinion,  raises  them  above  all  other  poets  what- 
soever; I  mean  not  only  that  talent  by  which  they  can  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  heart  of  their  readers,  and  excite  whatever  affection 
they  please,  in  which  the  former  plainly  stands  unrivalled;  I  mean 
also  that  wonderfully  penetrating  and  plastic  facvilty,  which  is  ca- 
pable of  representing  every  species  of  character,  not,  as  our  ordi- 
nary poets  do,  by  a  high  shoulder,  a  wry  mouth,  or  gigantic  sta- 
ture,, but  by  hitting  off,  with  a  delicate  hand,  the  distinguishing 
feature,  and  that  in  such  a  manner  as  makes  it  easily  known  from 
all  others  whatsoever,  however  similar  to  a  superficial  eye.  Hot- 
spur and  Henry  V.  are  heroes  resembling  one  another,  yet  very 
distinct  in  their  characters;  Falstaff,  and  Pistol,  and  Bardolph,  are 
l)uffoons,  but  each  in  his  own  way  ;  Desdemona  and  Juliet  are  not 
the  same  ;  Bottom,  and  Dogberry,  and  the  grave-diggers  are  dif- 
ferent characters  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  most  similar 
of  Homer's  characters  ;  each  has  some  mark  that  makes  him  es- 
sentially different  from  the  rest.  But  these  great  masters  are  not 
more  eminent  in  distinguishing  than  in  completing  their  charac- 
ters. I  am  a  little  acquainted  with  a  Cato,  a  Scmpronius,  a  Tinsel, 
a  Sir  Charles  Easy,  Sec.  but  I  am  perfectly  acquainted  with  Achil- 


42  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

les,  Hector,  Falstaff,  Lear,  Pistol,  and  Quickly  ;  I  know  them  more 
thoi-oughly  than  any  other  person  of  my  acquaintance. 

"  If  this  accurate  delineation  of  character  be  allowed  the  highest 
species  of  poetry  (and  this,  I  think,  is  generally  allowed),  may  I 
not  ask  whether  Ossian  is  not  extremely  defective  in  the  highest 
species  of  poetry  ?  It  is  said,  indeed,  that  this  poet  lived  in  an  age 
■^vhen  mankind,  being  in  a  state  of  almost  total  barbarism,  v/erc  in- 
capable of  that  diversity  of  character  which  is  found  in  countries 
improved  by  commerce  and  learning,  and  that  therefore  he  had  no 
materials  for  a  diversity  of  character.  But  it  is  certain  that  di- 
versities of  character  are  found  among  the  rudest  savages  ;  and  it 
is  the  poet's  business,  not  to  portray  the  characters  as  they  really 
exist  (which  is  left  to  the  historian),  but  to  represent  them  such  as 
they  might  have  existed.  But,  to  have  done,  Ossian  seems  really 
to  have  very  little  knowledge  of  the  human  heart ;  his  chief  talent 
lies  in  describing  inanimate  objects,  and  therefore  he  belongs  (ac- 
cording to  my  principles),  not  to  the  highest,  but  to  an  inferior  or- 
der of  poets." 

% 


It  is  to  be  observed,  that,  in  this  letter,  Dr  Bcattic  does  not  at 
all  enter  into  the  Cjuestion  respecting  the  authenticity  of  the  poems 
of  Ossian.  He  confines  his  strictures  merely  to  their  merit  as 
poetical  compositions,  such  as  we  have  them,  of  whatsoever  pe- 
riod. And  he  .i.ws  them  solely  in  comparison  with  other  poets 
of  acknowledged  celebrity. 

The  controversy  respecting  the  authenticity  of  these  poems  of 
"  Ossian"  \\-.  Avell  known.  When  Macpherson  published  first  his 
"  Fingal,"  and  afterwards  his  "  Temora,"  he  exhibited  them  as 
being  complete  and  regular  epic  poems,  of  very  remote  antiquity, 
which  had  existed  in  the  Highlands  and  islands  of  Scotland,  al- 
though the  parts  had  been  scattered  and  disjointed,  through  lapse 
of  time  ;  which  he  had  searched  for,  and  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
discover  ;  and  which,  when  thus  collected,  and  brought  together 
into  regular  order,  he  had  translated  and  published  as  a  whole. 
This  story,  as  told  by  Macpherson,  was  at  first  believed  by  many, 
in  its  full  extent,  even  by  men  of  high  character  in  the  literary 
world.     Dr  Blair,  in  particular,  was  so  persuaded  of  their  being 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  4-3 

completely  genuine,  as  to  write  a  dissertation  in  proof  of  their  an- 
tiquity, and  illustrative  of  their  beauties.*  This  opinion,  he  formed 
partly  from  the  apparent  similarity  between  the  poetry  thus  attri- 
buted to  Ossian,  and  that  of  some  detached  pieces  traditionally  pre- 
served in  the  His^hlands,  in  which  the  same  names  were  found,  as 
well  as  from  some  other  points  of  resemblance ;  and  partly  per- 
haps from  a  national  vanity,  arising  from  the  possession  of  so  ex- 
traordinary a  performance  as  "  Fingai"  certainly  is,  if  genuine. 

Others,  again  insisted,  and  do  still  insist,  that  the  whole  was  an 
impudent  forgery  of  Macpherson's  own,  which,  having  once  pro- 
duced as  the  work  of  the  Plighland  bard,  he  would  not  retract,  not- 
withstanding many  arguments  against  their  authenticity,  drawn 
from  their  own  internal  evidence,  as  well  as  from  his  refusal  to 
comply  Vvith  the  demands  repeatedly  made  upon  liim  to  put  an  end 
to  the  controversy,  by  exhibiting  the  original  manuscript  of  the 
poems  which  he  had  translated.  At  the  head  of  this  set  of  critics 
was  Dr  Johnson,  who,  in  his  tour  to  the  Hebrides,  has  strenuously 
maintained  their  being  altogether  a  forgery. 

That  there  never  existed  poems  exactly  in  the  form  in  which 
"  Fingai"  and  "  Temora"  were  published  by  Macpherson,  seems 
now  to  be  the  opinion  most  generally  entertained.  But  it  is  still 
maintained  by  many,  v/ith  the  strongest  appearance  of  reason,  that 
there  certainly  Avcre  poetical  compositions,  consisting  of  songs  and 
ballads  and  other  pieces,  existing  in  the  Highlands  many  years  be- 
fore Macpherson  was  born,  of  which  sufficient  traces  are  even  yet  to 
be  found  in  various  parts  of  that  country,  some  in  a  more,  some  in 
a  less  perfect  form.  From  these  scattered  fragments  it  probably 
was,  that  Macpherson,  by  imitations  and  additions  of  his  own, 
wrought  his  work  into  a  whole,  and  thus  gave  it  the  appearance,  in 
some  degree,  of  a  regular  epic  poem.  Nor  is  it  very  difficult,  per- 
haps, to  conceive  hov/  these  fragments  may  have  been  handed 
down  from  father  to  son,  even  without  the  use  of  writing,  among  a 
people  who,  with  scarcely  any  knowledge  of  agriculture,  commerce, 
or  useful  arts,  filled  up  the  vacancies  of  a  pastoral  life,  by  the  re- 
cital of  those  popular  songs  and  ballads.     This  is  a  practice  not 

*  "  A  Critical  Dissertation  on  the  Poems  of  Ossian,  tiic  son  of  pingal. 
"  By  Hu^^h  Blair,  D,  D.  one  of  tlie  Ministers  of  the  Hisjli  Clinrch,  and 
'■'  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Belles  Lettres  in  the  University  of  Edinburg-l), 


44  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

peculiar  to  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  but  to  be  found  in  all  nations, 
who,  by  their  local  situation,  in  the  midst  of  hills  and  fastnesses,  are 
cut  off  from  any  great  degree  of  intercourse  with  neighbouring 
countries,  farther  advanced  in  the  arts  of  polished  life.  Nor  will  it 
appear  so  very  wonderful,  if,  in  this  manner,  that  poetry  may  have 
been  preserved,  which  is  believed  by  many  to  have  existed  in  the 
Highlands,  when  the  powers  of  the  memory  are  considered,  and 
the  strength  it  acquired  by  the  perpetual  exercise  of  listening  to 
the  bards,  who  were  an  appendage  of  the  state  and  magnificence 
of  a  Highland  chieftain. 

But  Macpherson  is  dead,  so  that  no  farther  information  can  be 
obtained  from  him;  and  the  researches  that  are  now  made  must  be 
attended  with  great  difficulty,  when  the  means  of  enquiry  are  daily 
becoming  fewer,  from  the  lapse  of  time,  and  the  gradual  disuse  of 
those  local  manners  and  customs  by  which  the  Highlanders  were 
once  distinguished. 

The  misfortune  therefore  is,  that  it  seems  to  be  almost  impos- 
sible to  detect  the  imitations  and  interpolations  Avhich  Macpherson 
has  intermixed  with  what  may  have  been  genuine  and  original  of  an- 
cient Gaelic  poetry,  of  the  reality  of  which,  in  some  form  or  other. 
I  cannot  help  being  myself  a  strong  believer.* 


In  the  following  letter  Dr  Beattie  gives  the  lirst  hint  of  his 
"  Essay  on  Poetry,"  composed  that  year,  but  not  published  till 
1776,  along  with  the  edition,  in  quarto,  of  his  *•'  Essay  on  Truth." 

In  this  letter  mention  also  is  made,  of  a  poem  under  the  title 
of  the  "  Grotesquiad,"  whicli  I  never  either  saw  or  heard  of.  It 
was  undoubtedly  of  the  mock  heroic  or  satiric  kind,  a  species  of 
poetry  of  which  Dr  Beattie  used  to  express  himself  uncommonly 
fond  ;  and  being,  in  all  likelihood,  a  jeu  d'esjirit  of  the  moment,  he 
had  wisely  suppressed  it.  I  find  no  trace  of  any  such  production 
among  his  papers.  He  speaks  likewise  of  his  translation  of  Addi- 
son's •'  Battle  of  the  Pigmies  and  Cranes,"  which  has  since  been 
published. 

•The  Highland  Society  of  Edinburgh  are  at  present  engaged  in  an  inves- 
tigation of  the  authenticity  of  tlie  "  Poems  ofOssian,''  and  from  tlieir  enqui. 
ries,  it  is  expected  that  considerable  liglit  will  be  thrown  on  the  subject. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  45 


LETTER  V. 

DU  BEATTIli  TO  llOBEUT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESQ. 

Aberdeen,  28th  December,  1762. 

=*****  PRAY  what  is  like  to  be  the  fate  of  the  "  Grotesquiadr" 
It  is  natural  for  a  father  to  be  conoerned  about  his  offspring,  though 
it  be  spurious.  1  shall  leave  it  to  you  to  do  with  that  poem  as  you 
think  proper.  I  think  you  said  that  Pitt  had  translated  the 
"  Pygmies"  of  Addison. 

"  You  will  perhaps  remember,  that  in  March  last  I  wrote  a 
letter  to  you,  containing  some  strictures  on  the  "  Poems  of  Ossian," 
then  newly  published.  The  remark  which  I  made  on  that  occasion 
was,  that  the  poetry  of  that  old  bard,  however  exquisite  in  its  kind, 
was  not  the  highest  in  dignity,  and  that,  therefore,  its  author  could 
have  no  title  to  be  ranked  above  Milton,  or  Homer,  or  Shakespeare, 
who  have  all  made  a  distinguished  figure  in  the  highest  species  of 
poetry.  This  was  a  subject  on  which  I  often  had  occasion  to  ex- 
patiate in  conversation,  while  the  rage  of  extolling  the  Highland 
bard  continued.  It  was  then  that  I  formed  a  design  of  throwing 
together  some  thoughts  by  way  of  essay  on  the  comparative  dig- 
nity of  the  several  kinds  of  poetry;  a  subject  which,  so  far  as  I 
know,  has  never  been  treated  in  a  pliilosophical  n:ianner  by  any 
critic,  ancient  or  modern.  As  I  applied  my  thoughts  more  seri- 
ously to  this  inquiry,  I  found  the  plan  enlarge  itself  to  a  very  con- 
siderable extent.  I  have,  however,  reduced  it  to  something  of 
form,  and  find  that  it  will  naturally  consist  of  three  parts.  The 
first  part  contains  a  philosophical  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  poetry 
in  general,  considered  as  an  imitation  of  nature,  by  means  of  lan- 
guage. In  the  second  part,  I  propose  to  consider  the  principles 
which  determine  the  degrees  of  our  approbation  in  the  imitative 
arts,  particidarly  poetry.  In  the  third  part,  I  intend  to  consider 
the  several  kinds  of  poetry,  with  a  view  to  these  principles,  and  to 
determine  their  comparative  ex-cellence  according  to  the  degrees 
of  approbation  which  they  naturally  command.  The  first  part, 
which  is  finished,  made  a  discourse  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  v.hich  I 


46  LIFE  or  DR  BEATTIE, 

read  to  a  pliilosoplilcal  society,  composed  of  some  of  our  literati, 
Ti-howere  very  well  pleased  with  it,  and  seemed  to  think  that  I  had 
made  several  new  observations,  and  set  some  points  of  criticism  in 
a  new  light.  The  discussion  of  the  second  and  third  parts  I  in- 
tend to  attempt  during  the  summer  vacation." 


In  the  summer  of  1763,  Dr  Beattie  went,  for  the  first  time,  to 
London.  Of  this  journey  I  am  not  able  to  give  any  account,  as  it 
had  taken  place  before  my  acquaintance  with  him  commenced. 
It  was  most  probably  a  journey  of  curiosity  merely  :  for  Beattie  was 
at  that  time  unknown  in  London,  and  had  scarcely  any  acquaint- 
ance there,  except  the  late  Andrew  Millar,  the  bookseller,  who  had 
published  his  poems  in  the  year  1760,  of  whom  I  find  him  com- 
plaining bitterly  in  some  of  his  letters,  for  his  negligence  in  not 
promoting  their  sale.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  Mr  Arbuthriot,  after 
liis  return  home,  he  mentions  a  gentlem.an  of  Scotland,  of  their 
mu'atal  acquaintance,  who  had  accompanied  him  on  a  visit  to 
Pope's  house  at  Twickenham. 

In  some  of  his  letters,  at  this  time,  he  gives  an  intimation  of  a 
poem  upon  Avhich  he  was  at  Avork,  under  the  title  of  the  "  Judg- 
"  ment  of  Paris,"  a  classical  fable  known  to  every  school-boy.  An- 
cient authors  have  mentioned  it  as  a  poetical  or  legendary  tale ; 
and,  in  modern  times,  Congreve  has  written  a  masque  under  that 
title,  and  upon  the  ancient  plan.  Dr  Beattie  Avished  to  follow  a 
different  course,  and  thought  he  could  render  his  "  Judgment  of 
"Paris"  subservient  to  the  cause  of  virtue,  by  personifying  wisdom, 
ambition,  and  pleasure  in  the  characters  of  his  three  goddesses. 
It  was  published  in  the  spring  of  1765.* 

The  poem  opens  with  a  most  beautiful  description  of  the  land- 
scape w' here  the  scene  is  laid ;  and  the  appearance  of  the  three 

*  Of  tlie  plan  and  intended  mode  of  execution  of  this  poem,  lie  g-Ives  an 
account  in  two  letters  to  Mr  Arbutlr.iot,  whicli  I  liave  thought  it  rig-l»t  to 
preserve,  by  inserting  thcni  in  tlie  appendix.  For  althong-li  tlie  poem  was 
never  repifolishcd  after  the  edition  of  tlic  year  1766,  copies  of  it  are  still 
j)resened  in  many  libraries,  .ind  it  is  but  justice  to  Dr  Beattie,  that  the 
jiublic  should  ki'.ow  wli.at  his  original  design  was  in  writing  the  poem. 
A]->pc:Klix,  [L.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  -47 

goddesses,  with  their  characteristic  attributes,  is  described  in  a  vein 
of  the  richest  imagery,  which  I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  pre- 
serve, by  inserting  those  lines  in  the  appendix,  liut  it  will  proba- 
bly be  thought,  that  the  poet's  personification  of  virtues,  under  the 
semblance  of  those  celestial  personages,  is  rather  too  metaphysi- 
cal, and  is  scarcely  compensated  by  the  beauties  of  the  poetry. 
This,  indeed,  seems  to  have  been  pretty  much  the  decision  of  the 
public,  for  the  "  Judgment  of  Paris"  never  was  a  popular  poem. 
It  was  republished  in  the  edition  of  Beattie's  poems  in  the  year 
1766.   But  he  has  himself  omitted  it  in  all  his  subsequent  editions. 


LETTER  VI. 

PR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARQUTIINOT,  E,Sq. 

Aberdeen,  I2lh  December,  1763. 

-*'  SINCE  you  left  us,  I  have  been  reading  Tasso's  "  Jerusa- 
''  lem,"  in  the  translation  lately  published  by  Hoole.  I  v,'as  not  a 
little  anxious  to  peruse  a  poem  which  is  so  famous  over  all  Europe, 
and  has  so  often  been  mentioned  as  a  rival  to  the  "  Iliad,"  "^Eneid," 
and  "  Paradise  Lost."  It  is  certainly  a  noble  work ;  and  though  it 
seems  to  me  to  be  inferior  to  the  three  poems  just  mentioned,  yet 
I  cannot  help  thinking  it  in  the  rank  next  to  these.  As  for  the 
other  modern  attempts  at  the  "  E^Xjpee,"  the  '•  Hcnriade"  of  Vol- 
taire, the  "  Epigoniad"  of  Wilkie,  the  "  Leonidas"  of  Glover,  no!, 
to  mention  the  "  Arthur"  of  Blackmore,  they  are  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  it.  Tasso  possesses  an  exuberant  and  sublime  imagi- 
nation, though  in  exuberance  it  seems,  in  my  opinion,  inferior  to 
our  Spencer,  and  in  sublimity  inferior  to  Milton.  Were  I  to  com- 
pare Milton's  genius  with  Tasso's,  I  wovdd  say,  that  the  sublime 
of  the  latter  is  flashy  and  fluctuating,  while  that  of  the  former  dif- 
fuses an  uniform,  steady,  and  vigorous  blaze:  Milton  is  more  ma- 
jestic, Tasso  more  dazzling.  Dryden,  it  seems,  was  of  opinion, 
that  the  "  Jerusalem  Delivered"  was  the  only  poem  of  modern 
times  that  deserved  the  name  of  epic ;  but  it  is  certain  that  criti- 
cism was  not  this  writer's  talent ;  and  I  think  it  is  evident,  from 
some  passages  of  his  works,  that  he  either  did  not,  or  would  not, 


48  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATtlE. 

understand  the  "  Paradise  Lost."  Tasso  borrows  his  plot  and 
principal  characters  from  Homer,  but  his  manner  resembles  Vir- 
gil's. He  is  certainly  much  obliged  to  Virgil,  and  scruples  not  to 
imitate,  nor  to  translate  him  on  many  occasions.  In  the  pathetic  he 
is  far  inferior  both  to  Homer,  to  Virgil,  and  to  Milton.  His  cha- 
racters, though  different,  are  not  always  distinct,  and  want  those 
masterly  and  distinguishing  strokes  which  the  genius  of  Homer 
and  Shakespeare,  and  of  them  only,  knows  how  to  delineate.  Tasso 
excels  in  describing  pleasurable  scenes,  and  seems  peculiarly  fond 
of  such  as  have  a  reference  to  the  passion  of  love.  Yet,  in  charac- 
terising this  passion,  he  is  far  inferior,  not  only  to  Milton,  but  also 
to  Virgil,  whose  Jbuj-th  book  he  has  been  at  great  pains  to  imitate. 
The  translation  is  smooth  and  flowing;  bvit  in  dignity,  and  variety 
of  numbers,  is  often  defective,  and  often  labours  under  a  feebleness 
and  prolixity  of  phrase,  evidently  proceeding  either  from  want  of 
skill,  or  from  want  of  leisure  in  the  versifier." 


In  the  month  of  November  1764  Churchill  died;  a  writer  who 
made  no  little  noise  in  his  day,  not  only  from  his  having  assumed 
the  character  of  an  open  and  professed  satirist,  but  from  his  pos- 
sessing no  inconsiderable  strength  of  thought,  with  a  vigorous, 
though  slovenly,  energy  of  expression,  which,  notwithstanding  all 
his  profaneness,  faction,  calumny,  and  ribaldry,  still  preserves,  in  a 
certain  degree,  his  reputation  as  a  poet.  As  Churchill,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  was  extremely  unpopular  in  Scotland,  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  some  of  his  own  poetical  productions,  but  of  his  connexion 
Avith  Wilkes,  who,  at  that  time,  was  publishing  the  "  North  Briton," 
a  periodical  paper,  peculiarly  levelled  against  Scotland,  it  was 
proposed  to  Dr.  Beattie,  that  he  should  Avrite  some  verses  on  the 
death  of  Churchill,  a  task  which  he  not  unwillingly  undertook. 

The  "  Verses  on  the  death  of  Churchill"  appeared  soon  after 
without  the  author's  name,  and  had  a  rapid  sale.  Of  this  poem 
Dr  Beattie  himself  appears,  by  his  letters  written  at  the  time,  to 
have  been  exceedingly  fond;  and  they  who  yet  remember  the  vio- 
lence of  the  political  contests  of  those  days,  with  what  intemperate 
zeal  Churchill  prostituted  his  poetical  talents  in  the  support  of  the 
plans  and  pursuits  of  the  seditious  demagogues,  who,  under  the 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  49 

bannei's  of  Wilkes,  set  all  decency,  good  order,  and  good  govern- 
ment at  defiance,  will  not  wonder  that  Dr  Beattie,  whose  principles 
and  opinions  were  the  very  reverse  of  theirs,  should  feel  his  indig- 
nation roused  by  the  popular  applause  with  which  he  saw  Churchill 
distinguished  while  he  lived,  and  heard  of  the  honours  which 
were  said  to  be  preparing  for  his  memory  when  dead,  by  the  pro- 
posal of  erecting  a  monument  to  him  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The 
lines  are,  therefore,  marked  with  more  than  ordinary  asperity, 
though  perhaps  not  more  than  the  occasion  warranted.  The  allu- 
sion, indeed,  in  the  conclusion  of  the  poem,  was  deservedly  found 
fault  with.  In  the  edition  of  Dr  Beattie's  poems,  published  the 
year  following,  he  omitted  the  name  of  "  Churchill,"  and  prefaced 
the  verses  with  an  address  in  prose,  in  which  he  vindicates  the 
keenness  of  his  satire.  In  the  subsequent  editions  of  his  poetical 
works,*  he  omitted  the  lines  altogether. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1765,  Mr.  Gray,  whose  "  Elegy  in  a 
"  Country  Church-yard,"  and  noble  lyric  compositions,  have  raised 
his  name  to  the  first  rank  of  British  poets,  came  to  Scotland  on  a 
visit  to  the  late  earl  of  Strathmore.  Dr  Beattie,  who  was  an  enthu- 
siastic admirer  of  Gray,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  his  arrival,  address- 
ed to  him  the  following  letter.  This  procured  to  Dr  Beattie  an 
invitation  to  Glammis  castle,  which  led  to  a  friendship  and  corres- 
pondence between  these  two  eminent  poets  and  amiable  men, 
which  continued,  without  interruption,  till  the  death  of  Mr  Gray» 
on  the  Slst  July,  1771. 

LETTER  VIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MR  GRAY. 

Marischal  College  of  Aberdeen,  30th  August,  1765. 

"  IF  I  thought  it  necessary  to  offer  an  apology  for  venturing  to 
address  you  in  this  abrupt  manner,  I  should  be  very  much  at  a  loss 
how  to  begin.  I  might  plead  my  admiration  of  your  genius,  and  mj^ 
attachment  to  your  character  ;  but  who  is  he,  that  could  not,  with 
truth,  urge  the  same  excuse  for  intruding  upon  your  retireinei>t  ? 

•  Vide  Appendix,  [M.} 


Sif  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

I  might  plead  my  earnest  desire  to  be  personally  acquainted  With  a; 
man  whom  I  have  so  long  and  so  passionately  admired  in  his  writ- 
Wigs  ;  but  thousands,  of  greater  consequence  than  I,  are  ambitious 
of  the  same  honour.  I,  indeed,  must  either  flatter  myself  that  no 
apology  is  necessary,  or  otherwise,  I  must  despair  of  obtaining  what 
has  long  been  the  object  of  my  most  ardent  wishes  ;  I  must  for 
ever  forfeit  all  hopes  of  seeing  you,  and  conversing  with  you. 

"  It  was  yesterday  I  received  the  agreeable  news  of  your  being 
in  Scotland,  and  of  your  intending  to  visit  some  parts  of  it.  Will  you 
permit  us  to  hope,  that  we  shall  have  an  opportunity,  at  Aberdeen,- 
of  thanking  you  in  person,  for  the  honour  you  have  done  to  Britain,- 
and  to  the  poetic  art,  by  your  inestimable  compositions,  and  of 
offering  you  all  that  we  have  that  deserves  your  acceptance,  namely, 
hearts  fuU  of  esteem,  respect,  and  affection  ?  If  you  cannot  come 
so  far  northAvard,  let  me  at  least  be  acquainted  with  the  place  of 
your  residence,  and  permitted  to  wait  on  you.  Forgive,  sir,  this 
request ;  forgive  me  if  I  urge  it  with  earnestness,  for,  indeed,  it 
concerns  me  nearly  ;  and  do  me  the  justice  to  believe,  that  I  am, 
with  the  most  sincere  attachment,  and  most  respectful  esteem, 
&c.  8rc.  8cc. 

"  P.  S.  Dr  Carlisle  of  Musselburgh,  and  Dr  Wight  of  Glasgow,, 
acquainted  me  of  your  being  in  Scotland.  It  was  from  them  I 
learned  that  my  name  was  not  wholly  unknown  to  you." 


It  was  in  the  course  of  this  year,  1765,  that  my  acquaintance 
with  Dr  Beattie  began.  We  first  met  at  the  house  of  our  mutual 
friend,  Mr  Arbuthnot,  in  Edinburgh  ;  and  having  occasion  to  pass 
some  time  that  autumn  in  Aberdeenshire,  I  renewed  my  inter- 
course with  him  there.  As  those  with  whom  he  chitfly  associated 
at  Aberdeen  were  my  most  intimate  friends,  we  were  much  to- 
gether ;  and  that  friendship  and  correspondence  took  place  between 
us,  wluch  I  regarded,  not  only  as  my  pride,  but  as  a  source  of  the 
purest  pleasure  ;  and  I  may  fairly  add,  that  if  I  am  not  a  better 
man  for  the  correspondence  and  instructive  conversation  of  Dr 
Beattie,  great  will  be  my  condemnation  at  my  last  account. 


1.IFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  "  ftl 

Prom  that  correspondence,  therefore,  which  continued  to  the 
(end  of  his  days,  when  the  decay  of  his  faculties  would  not  permit 
him  to  carry  it  on  any  longer,  I  am  now  enabled  to  begin  to  eluci- 
date still  farther  his  writmgs  and  his  character. 

But  I  am  not  without  my  apprehensions  here,  that  I  may*^ 
charged  with  no  small  degree  of  vanity  for  publishing  to  the  world 
those  warm  expressions  of  esteem,  affection,  and  gratitude  towards 
me,  which  occm*  in  s>everal  of  the  letters  addressed  to  me  by  Dr 
Beattie.  And  I  own  I  do  feel  some  little  pride  (an  honest  pride,  I 
hope)  in  preserving  and  recording  some  testimonies  of  that  favour- 
able opinipn  which  such  a  man  as  Dr  Beattie  was  pleased  to  enter- 
tain of  me.  1  can,  however,  at  the  same  time  assure  the  reader  (as 
some  apology  for  myself),  that  I  have  suppressed  much  stronger 
passages  of  that  nature,  and  a  much  larger  number  of  them  than  J 
liave  allowed  myself  to  retain. 


LETTER  VIIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  7th  December,  1765. 

^'  THE  receipt  of  your  very  obliging  letter  ought  to  have  been 
•sooner  acknowledged.  I  should  abhor  myself  had  my  delay  been 
owing  to  indolence  :  possessed  as  I  am  with  a  most  grateful  sense 
of  your  favours,  with  the  highest  regard  for  your  friendship,  and 
the  most  zealous  attachment  to  your  character :  my  delay  was 
indeed  owing  to  another  cause. 

"  I  have  been  employed  for  some  time  past  in  writing  a  kind  of 
poetical  epistle  to  Mr  Blacklock,  in  return  for  a  present  which  he 
■was  so  kind  as  to  make  me  of  his  works,  accompanied  with  a  very 
handsome  copy  of  verses  :  and  I  had  intended  to  send  under  the 
same  cover  my  letter  to  you,  and  my  versesto  Mr  Blacklock.  The 
verses  are  indeed  finished  ;  but  as  there  are  some  passages  in  the^n 
which,  seem  to  need  correction,  I  must,  for  some  time,  let  them  lie 
by  me  ;  for  I  have  found  by  experience,  that  I  am  a  much  more 
impartial  judge  of  such  of  my  works  as  I  have  ahnost  quite  for- 
gotten, than  of  such  as  are  fresh  in  my  memory.     The  epistlc; 


52  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

when  ready,  will  be  sent  to  Dr  Gregory's  care,  and  he  will  show  it 
to  you  and  to  Mr  Arbuthnot,  as  soon  as  it  comes  to  hand. 

"  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me,  if  1  cannot  return  such  an  answer 
to  your  letter  as  it  deserves.  I  want  words  to  express  how  much 
I  value  your  friendship.  Allow  me  to  assure  you,  that  I  am  not 
one  of  the  ungrateful,  nor  (if  good  intentions  can  confer  any  merit 
on  a  character)  one  of  the  undeserving.  The  friendship  of  the 
good  is  the  object  of  my  highest  ambition  :  if  I  cannot  lay  claim  to 
it,  I  shall  at  least  approve  myself  not  entirely  unworthy  of  it.  Let 
me  be  tried  by  my  conduct,  and  if  I  shall  ever  give  a  good  man  rea- 
son to  be  ashamed  of  owning  me  for  his  friend,  then  let  my  name 
be  despised  to  the  latest  posterity. 

"  I  intend,  if  possible,  to  publish  this  winter  a  new  edition  of 
all  my  original  pieces  of  poetry.  I  wrote  to  Mr  Arbuthnot  some 
time  ago,  to  treat  with  a  bookseller,  but  have  received  no  answer, 
which  disappoints  me  a  good  deal,  as  the  season  is  fast  advancing, 
and  as  it  will  soon  be  too  late  to  apply  to  another,  in  case  the  person 
to  whom  he  promised  to  apply  should  decline  my  offer.  Pray, 
will  you  advise  me  to  insert  the  verses  on  Churchill  in  the  collec- 
tion ?  I  do  not  think  them  the  worst  part  of  my  works,  and  there- 
fore should  be  sorry  to  lose  them  altogether.  My  scheme,  at  pre- 
sent, is  to  strike  out  the  name  of  Churchill,  and  insert  a  fictitious 
one.     But  in  this  I  would  wish  to  be  directed  by  my  friends. 

"  I  am  sorry  you  did  not  see  Mr  Gray  on  his  return  ;  you 
would  have  been  much  pleased  with  him.  Setting  aside  his  merit 
as  a  poet,  which,  however,  in  my  opinion,  is  greater  than  any  of 
his  contemporaries  can  boast,  in  this  or  in  any  other  nation,  I  found 
him  possessed  of  the  most  exact  taste,  the  soundest  judgment,  and 
the  most  extensive  learning.  He  is  happy  in  a  singular  facility  of 
expression.  His  conversation  abounds  in  original  observations, 
delivered  with  no  appearance  of  sententious  formality,  and  seem- 
ing to  arise  spontaneously  without  study  or  premeditation.  I  pass- 
ed two  very  agreeable  days  with  him  at  Glammis,  and  found  him 
as  easy  in  his  manners,  and  as  communicative  and  frank,  as  | 
jcould  have  wished." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  SS 

The  following  letter,  from  Dr  Beattie  to  Dr  Blacklock,*  is  the 
first,  I  find,  of  their  correspondence,  and  does  equal  honour  to  his 
head  and  to  his  heart. 


LETTER  IX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  15th  January,  1766. 

"  I  CANNOT  express  how  agreeably  I  was  flattered  by  the 
present  you  were  pleased  to  make  me  of  your  works,  and  by  the 
elegant  verses  which  accompanied  it.  The  acc^uaintance  of  good 
men  has  always  appeared  to  me  almost  the  only  temporal  object 
worthy  of  my  ambition ;  and  I  can,  with  great  sincerity,  declare, 
that  the  consciousness  of  having  attained  your  friendship,  yields 
me  much  higher  pleasure  than  any  compliments  that  can  be  paid 
to  my  poor  merit.  Your  genius  and  character  I  have  long  known 
and  admired ;  and  although  remoteness  of  place  and  diversity  of 
employment  had  almost  extinguished  my  hopes  of  becoming  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  you,  I  still  flattered  myself,  that,  in  some 
way  or  other,  I  should  find  an  opportunity  of  letting  you  know  how 
highly  I  esteem  and  love  you.  This  opportunity  I  have  found  at 
last,  and  it  is  with  the  utmost  pleasure  that  I  avail  myself  of  it. 

"  On  receiving  your  valuable  present,  I  resolved  to  attempt  an 
answer  in  verse  ;  but,  by  reason  of  many  unavoidable  interruptions 
from  business,  from  bad  health,  and  from  studies  of  a  most  unpo- 
etical  nature,  it  advanced  more  slowly  than  I  could  have  wished. 
I  found  means,  however,  to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion  two  months 
ago,  and  sent  it  in  a  cover  addressed  to  Dr  Gregory.  I  heard, 
some  days  ago,  that  it  had  come  safely  to  hand,  and  that  you  was 
pleased  to  give  it  a  favourable  reception.  You  will  easily  perceive, 
by  its  miscellaneousness,  that  the  composition  of  it  must  have 
been  interrupted  with  frequent  and  long  intervals  ;  yet  I  have  at- 
tempted to  give  it  a  kind  of  unity,  and  I  hope,  upon  the  whole,  it 
is  not  more  incoherent  than  a  poetical  epistle  may  be  allowed  to 
be.     There  is,  perhaps,  more  asperity  in  it  than  you  can  approve ; 

*  For  some  account  of  Dr.  Blacklock,  see  Appendix,  [N.l 


Si  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE, 

there  is,  indeed,  more  than  I  will  undertake  to  excuse ;  but  wlien 
©ne  clips  into  certain  subjects,  it  is  perhaps  difficult  to  preserve 
that  meekness  of  expression,  and  tame  acquiescence  of  sentiment, 
which,  in  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  mankind,  is,  for  the  most 
part,  so  agreeable.  But  whatever  you  may  think  of  particular  ex- 
pressions, you  will  not  blame  the  general  design;  the  thoughts, 
I  trust,  are  such  as  become  an  honest  man,  who  is  more  ambitious 
of  approving  himself  to  his  own  conscience  than  to  the  world.  Let 
the  sincerity  of  the  writer  be  also  pleaded  in  favour  of  the  essay; 
for  though  written  in  rhyme,  it  is  a  faithful  transcript  of  the  real 
sentiments  of  his  heart.  Indeed,  I  have  always  thought  it  a  piece  of 
contemptible  affectation  in  an  author  to  assume,  in  his  writings,  a 
character  which  is  none  of  his  owa.  If  a  man's  sentiments  be  bad, 
he  ought  to  conceal  tliem  altogether;  but,  if  good,  I  see  no  reason 
■why  he  should  be  ashamed  of  them.  However,  as  a  very  general 
prejudice  prevails  against  the  sincerity  of  poetical  protestations,  I 
could  not  rest  till  I  had  assured  you,  in  plain  prose,  that  1  set  a 
very  high  value  upon  your  friendship,  and  will  ever  account  it  my 
honour  to  act  such  a  part  as  may  merit  the  continuance  of  it. 

"  That  you  may  long  live  an  honour  to  your  country,  a  bless- 
ing to  your  family,  and  the  delight  of  your  acquaintance,  is  my 
earnest  prayer." 


LETTER  X. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  30th  January,  IfQS. 

'"'  YOUR  zeal  in  promoting  my  interest  demands  my  warmest 
acknowledgments ;  yet,  for  want  of  adequate  expressions,  I  scarce 
know  in  what  manner  to  pay  them.  I  must  therefore  leave  you  to 
guess  at  my  gratitude,  by  the  emotions  which  would  arise  in  your 
«own  heart,  on  receiving  a  very  important  favour  from  a  person  of 
■whom  you  had  merited  nothing,  and  to  whom  you  could  make  no 
just  return. 

"  I  suppose  you  have  seen  my  letter  to  Dr  Blacklock.  I  hope, 
in  due  time,  to  be  acquainted  with  your  sentiments  concerning  k. 
I  k"ow  not  whether  I  have  gained  my  point  or  not :  but  in  com- 


Xlf E  OF  DR  BEATTtE.  55 

|)osing  that  letter  I  was  more  studious  of  simplicity  of  diction  than 
in  any  other  of  my  pieces.  I  am  not,  indeed,  in  this  respect,  so 
very  scrupulous  as  some  critics  of  these  times.  I  see  no  harm  in 
using  an  expressive  epithet,  when,  without  the  use  of  such  an  epi- 
thet, one  cannot  do  justice  to  his  idea.  Even  a  compounded  epithet, 
provided  it  be  suitable  to  the  genius  of  our  language,  and  authenti- 
cated by  some  good  writer,  may  often,  in  my  opinion,  produce  a 
good  effect.  My  notion  of  simplicity  discards  every  thing  from 
style  which  is  affected,  superfluous,  indefinite,  or  obscure  ;  but 
admits  every  grace,  which,  without  encumbering  a  sentiipent, 
does  really  embellish  and  enforce  it.  I  am  no  friend  to  those 
prettine&ses  of  modern  style,  which  one  may  call  the  pompous  ear- 
ings,  and  flounces  of  the  muses,  which,  with  some  writers,  are  so 
highly  in  vogue  at  present ;  they  may,  by  their  glare  and  flutter- 
ing, take  off"  the  eye  from  imperfections  ;  but  I  am  convinced  they 
disguise  and  disfigure  the  charms  of  genuine  beauty. 

"  I  have  of  late  been  much  engaged  in  metaphysics  ;  at  least  I 
have  been  labouring  with  all  my  might  to  overturn  that  visionary 
science.  I  am  a  member  of  a  club  in  this  town,  who  style  them- 
selves the  Philosophical  Society.  We  have  meetings  every  fort- 
night, and  deliver  discourses  in  our  turn.  I  hope  you  will  not 
think  the  worse  of  this  Society,,  when  I  tell  you,  that  to  it  the  world 
is  indebted  for  "  A  comparative  view  of  the  Faculties  of  Man,'" 
and  an  "  Enquiry  into  Human  Nature,  on  the  principles  of  Com- 
mon Sense."  Criticism  is  the  field  in  which  I  have  hitherto 
(chiefly  at  least)  chosen  to  expatiate :  but  an  accidental  question 
lately  furnished  me  with  an  hint,  which  I  made  the  subject  of  a  two 
hours  discourse  at  our  last  meeting.  I  have  for  some  time  wished 
for  an  opportunity  of  publishing  something  relating  to  the  busi- 
ness of  my  own  profession,  and  I  think  I  have  now  found  an  op- 
portunity ;  for  the  doctrine  of  my  last  discourse  seems  to  be  of 
importance,  and  I  have  already  finished  two-thirds  of  my  plan. 
My  doctrine  is  this  :  that  as  we  know  nothing  of  the  eternal  rela- 
tions of  things,  that  to  us  /sand  must  be  iruth^  which  we  feel  that 
we  must  believe  ;  and  that  to  us  is  falsehood,  wliich  we  feel  that  we 
must  disbelieve.  I  have  shown  that  all  genuine  reasoning  does  ulti- 
mately terminate  in  ceitain  principles,  w!  ich  it  is  impossible  to 
disbelieve,  and  as  impossible  to  prove :  that  therefore  the  ultimate 
Standard  of  truth  to  us  is  common  sense,  or  tliat  in,^tinctive  con* 


S6  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

viction  into  which  all  true  reasoning  does  resolve  itself:  that 
therefore  what  contradicts  common  sense  is  in  itself  absurd,  how- 
ever subtle  the  arguments  wluch  support  it :  for  such  is  the 
ambiguity  and  insufficiency  of  language,  that  it  is  easy  to  argue  on 
either  side  of  any  question  with  acutencss  sufficient  to  confoundone 
who  is  not  expert  in  the  art  of  reasoning.  My  principles,  in  the 
main,  are  not  essentially  different  from  Dr  Reid's ;  but  they  seem 
to  offer  a  more  compendious  method  of  destroying  scepticism.  I 
intend  to  show  (and  have  already  in  part  shown),  that  all  sophisti- 
cal reasoning  is  marked  with  certain  characters  which  distinguish 
it  from  true  investigation  :  and  thus  I  flatter  myself  I  shall  be  able 
to  discover  a  method  of  detecting  sophistry,  even  when  one  is  not 
abletogive  a  logical  confutation  of  its  arguments.  I  intend  farther 
to  enquire  into  the  nature  of  that  modification  of  intellect  which 
qualifies  a  man  for  being  a  sceptic;  and  I  think  I  am  able  to 
prove  that  it  is  not  genius,  but  the  want  of  it.  However,  it  will  be 
summer  before  I  can  finish  my  project.  I  own  it  is  not  without  in- 
dignation, that  I  see  sceptics  and  their  writings  (which  are  the 
bane  not  only  of  science,  but  also  of  virtue)  so  much  in  vogue  int 
the  present  age." 


In  the  summer  of  1766,  a  new  edition  of  Dr  Beattie's  Poems 
was  published  in  London.  In  this  edition  all  his  poetical  transla- 
tions were  omitted  ;  and  of  the  pieces  formerly  published  only  the 
following  were  retained — 

"  The  Ode  to  Peace. 

"  Retirement,  an  Ode. 

«  Ode  to  Hope. 

"  The  Triumph  of  Melancholy. 

"  Elegy  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  a  Lady. 

«  The  yares,  a  Fable." 
On  some  of  these  earlier  pieces  he  had  made  considerable  improve- 
ments ;  and  he  had  added, 

"  The  Judgment  of  Paris," 
which  had  been  printed  as  a  pamphlet ;  also, 

"  Verses,  on  the  report  of  a  Monument  to  be  erected  in  West= 
"  minster  Abbey,  to  the  Memory  of  a  late  Author." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  57 

These  were  the  verses  on  the  death  of  Churchill, -which  had  also 
been  published  separately.  From  this  poem  he  had  withdrawn 
Churcliill's  name,  and  substituted  that  of  "  Bufo,"  and  had  pre- 
faced it  with  an  apologetical  letter. 

"  The  Wolf  and  the  Shepherds,  a  Fable  ;"  in  praise  of  which 
much  cannot  be  said ;  for  it  has  been  already  remarked,  that 
'*  Fable"  was  by  no  means  a  species  of  composition  in  which  Dr 
Beattie  excelled. 

"  An  Epistle  to  the  Reverend  Mr  (afterwards  Dr)  Thomas 
Blacklock."  This  is  a  most  excellent  performance.  While  at 
the  same  time  it  pays  many  just  and  striking  compliments  to  Dr 
Blacklock,  it  may  be  considered  as  of  the  nature  of  an  ethic  epis- 
tle, breathing  a  noble  spirit  and  freedom  of  sentiment,  with  great 
richness  of  poetry  and  harmony  of  versification. 

The  last  piece  of  the  collection  is  "  The  Battle  of  the  Pigmies 
"  and  the  Crane^^;"  a  translation  from  Addison's  "  Pygmxo-^ 
"  gerano-machia,"  which  certainly  is  at  least  equal  to,  if  it  does 
not  surpass  the  original.  Of  this  piece  he  was  himself  more  than 
usually  fond.  "  It  is  written,"  says  he,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  "  in 
"  Ovid's  manner.  I  have  affected  a  greater  solemnity  of  style  and 
"  versification,  and  have  bestowed  a  few  heightening  touches  on 
"  all  the  images." 

Of  these  additional  pieces,  "  The  Judgment  of  Paris,"  "  The 
Lines  on  Churchill,"  "  The  Wolf  and  the  Shepherds,"  and  "  The 
Epistle  to  Blacklock,"  have  been  omitted  in  the  subsequent  edi- 
tions of  Dr  Beattie's  Poems.  W^ith  the  three  first,  we  may  easily 
dispense  ;  but  we  regret,  with  reason,  I  think,  the  loss  of  the 
"  Epistle  to  Dr  Blacklock." 

This  republication  was  received  by  the  public  equally  well  v.'itlj 
the  former. 

It 


58  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

LETTER  XL 

DR    JOHN    GREGORY*    TO    DR    BEATTIE. 

Edinburgh,  1st  January,  1766. 

"  MR  GRAY  got  the  books.  He  spoke  of  you  in  terms  of  very 
high  esteem.  I  think  him  an  excellent  critic,  and  I  am  persuadea 
you  found  him  so.  But  though  I  think  he  could  give  you  an  ex«- 
cellent  advice  in  vi^hat  relates  to  that  intrinsic  merit  of  your  com- 
positions, which  will  be  regarded  by  real  judges,  of  which  there  is 
not  one  in  a  thousand  who  read  them  ;  yet  I  would  not  depend 
much  on  his  judgment  of  that  sort  of  merit  which  makes  a  poet 
popular  among  the  bulk  of  readers.  It  is  a  sentiment  that  very 
universally  prevails,  that  poetry  is  a  light  kind  of  reading,  which 
one  takes  up  only  for  a  little  amusement,  and  that  therefore  it 
should  be  so  perspicuous  as  not  to  require  a  second  reading.  This 
sentiment  would  bear  hard  on  some  of  your  best  things  ;  and  on 
all  Gray's,  except  his  "  Church-yard  Elegy,"  which  he  told  me, 
with  a  good  deal  of  acrimony,  owed  its  popularity  entirely  to  the 
subject,  and  that  the  public  would  have  received  it  as  well  if  it  had 
been  written  in  prose.  Dr  Blair  thinks  your  verses  on  Churchill 
the  best  you  ever  made.  I  do  not  quite  agree  with  him  there, 
though  I  think  it  one  of  the  best  and  most  spirited  satires  that  was 
ever  written,  but  we  all  agree  that  two  or  three  lines  should  be  al- 
tered. 

"  What  I  earnestly  wish  is  to  have  you  employ  your  genius  on 
some  subject  that  will  be  generally  interesting,  and  which  can 
alone  procure  you  that  universal  fame  which  you  deserve,  and  will 
likewise  procure  you  a  more  solid  reward  of  your  labours." 

*  For  some  account  of  Dr  Gregory,  see  p.  24. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  0 


LETTER  XII. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  18th  September,  1766. 

"  YOU  flatter  me  very  agreeably,  by  wishing  me  to  engage  in 
a  translation  of  Tasso's  "  Jerusalem."  If  I  had  all  the  other  accom- 
plishments necessary  to  fit  me  for  such  an  undertaking,  (which  is 
by  no  means  the  case)  I  have  not  as  yet  acquired  a  sufficient  know- 
ledge of  the  Italian  language,  although  I  understand  it  tolerably 
well.  My  proficiency  would  have  been  much  more  considerable, 
if  my  health  had  allowed  me  to  study ;  but  I  have  been  obliged  to 
estrange  myself  from  books  for  some  months  past.  I  intend  to 
persist  in  my  resolution  of  acquiring  that  language,  for  I  am  won- 
derfully delighted  with  the  Italian  poetry.  It  does  not  seem  to 
abound  much  in  those  strokes  of  fancy  that  raise  admiration  and 
astonishment,  in  which  I  think  the  English  very  much  superior; 
but  it  possesses  all  the  milder  graces  in  an  eminent  degree ;  in  sim- 
plicity, harmony,  delicacy,  and  tenderness,  it  is  altogether  without 
a  rival.  I  cannot  well  account  for  that  neglect  of  the  Italian  litera- 
ture, which,  for  about  a  century  past,  has  been  fashionable  among 
us.  I  believe  Mr  Addison  may  have  been  instrumental  in  intro- 
ducing, or,  at  least,  in  vindicating  it ;  though  I  am  inclined  to  think, 
that  he  took,  upon  trust,  from  Boileau,  that  censure  which  he  past 
upon  the  Italian  poets,  and  which  has  been  current  among  the 
critics  ever  sirxe  the  days  of  the  "  Spectator."* 

"  A  good  translation  of-  Tasso  would  be  a  very  valuable  acces- 
sion to  English  literature;  but  it  would  be  a  most  difficult  imder- 
taking,  on  account  of  the  genius  of  our  language,  which,  though 
in  the  highest  degree  copious,  expressive,  and  sonorous,  is  not  to 
be  compared  with  the  Italian  indelicacy,  sweetness,  and  simplicity 
of  composition  ;  and  these  are  qualities  so  characteristical  of  Tasso, 
that  a  translator  would  do  the  highest  injustice  to  his  author,  who 
should  fail  in  transfusing  them  into  his  version.    Besides,  a  work  of 

*  It  will  be  remembered,  tliat  this  observation  was  made  by  Dr  Seattle 
very  nearly  forty  years  ago.  Since  tiiat  period  Italian  literature  has  been 
much  more  cultivated  jn  Britain,  than  it  was  at  liis  fiist  acquaintance  with  it 


6'p  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

such  a  nature  must  not  only  be  laborious,  but  expensive ;  so  that  a 
prudent  person  would  not  choose  to  engage  in  it  without  sonae  hope, 
not  only  of  being  indemnified,  but  even  rewarded  ;  and  such  a  hope 
it  would  be  madness  in  me  to  entertain.  Yet,  to  show  that  I  an\ 
not  averse  from  the  work  (for  luckily  for  poor  bards,  poetry  is 
sometimes  its  own  reward,  and  is  at  any  time  amply  rewarded, 
when  it  gratifies  the  desire  of  a  friend),  I  design,  as  soon  as  I  have 
leisure,  and  sufficient  skill  in  the  language,  to  try  my  hand  at  a 
short  specimen.  In  the  mean  time,  I  flatter  myself,  you  will  not 
think  the  worse  of  me  for  not  making  a  thousand  protestations  of 
my  insufficiency,  and  as  many  acknowledgments  of  my  gratitude, 
for  the  honour  you  do  me  in  supposing  me  capable  of  such  a  work. 
The  truth  is,  I  have  so  much  to  say  on  this  subject,  that  if  I  were 
only  to  begin,  I  should  never  have  done.  Your  friendship,  and 
your  good  opinion,  which  I  shall  ever  account  it  my  honour  to  cul- 
tivate, I  do  indeed  value  more  than  I  can  express. 

"  Your  neglect  of  the  modern  philosophical  sceptics,  who  have 
too  mvich  engaged  the  attention  of  these  times,  does  equal  honour 
to  your  understanding  and  to  your  heart.  To  suppose  that  every 
thing  may  be  made  matter  of  dispute,  is  an  exceeding  false  princi- 
ple, subversive  of  all  true  science,  and  prejudicial  to  the  happiness 
af  miankind.  To  confute  without  convincing  is  a  common  case, 
and  indeed  a  very  easy  matter :  in  all  conviction  (at  least  in  all 
moral  and  religious  conviction),  the  heart  is  engaged,  as  well  as 
the  understanding ;  and  the  understanding  may  be  satisfied,  or  at 
least  confounded,  with  a  doctrine,  from  which  the  heart  recoils 
With  the  strongest  aversion.  This  is  not  the  language  of  a  logi- 
cian ;  but  this,  I  hope,  is  the  language  of  an  honest  man,  who  con- 
siders all  science  as  frivolous,  which  does  not  make  men  wiser  and 
better  ;  and  to  puzzle  with  Avords,  without  producing  conviction 
(which  is  all  that  our  metaphysical  sceptics  have  been  able  to  do), 
can  never  promote  cither  the  wisdom  or  the  virtue  of  mankind. 
It  is  strange  that  men  should  so  often  forget,  that  "  Happiness  is 
"  our  being's  fend  and  aim."  Happiness  is  desirable  for  its  own 
sake  :  truth  is  desirable  only  us  a  mean  of  producing  happiness: 
for,  who  would  not  prefer  an  agreeable  delusion  to  a  melanchoh' 
truth?  What  then  is  the  use  of  that  philosophy,  which  aims  to 
inculcate  truth  at  the  expence  of  happiness,  by  introducing  doubt 
and  disbelief  in  the  place  of  confidence  aud  hope?  Surely  the  pro- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  6*1 

moters  of  all  such  philosophy  are  either  the  enemies  of  mankind, 
or  the  dupes  of  their  own  most  egregious  folly.  I  mean  not  to 
make  any  concessions  in  favour  of  metaphysical  truth :  genuine 
truth  and  genuine  happiness  were  never  inconsistent:  but  metaphy- 
sical truth  (such  as  we  find  in  our  sceptical  systems)  is  not  genuine, 
for  it  is  perpetually  changing ;  and  no  wonder,  since  it  depends  not 
on  the  common  sense  of  mankind  (which  is  always  the  same),  but 
varies,  according  as  the  talents  and  inclinations  of  different  authors 
are  different.  The  doctrines  of  metaphysical  scepticism  are  either 
true  or  false ;  if  false,  we  have  little  to  do  with  them ;  if  true,  they 
prove  the  fallacy  of  the  human  faculties,  and  therefore  prove  too 
much ;  for  it  follows,  as  an  undeniable  consequence,  that  all  human 
doctrines  whatsoever  (themselves  not  excepted)  are  fallacious,  and 
consequently,  pernicious,  insignificant,  and  vain. 

LETTER  XIIL 

DU  BEATTIE  TO  DR  BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  22d  September,  1766. 

"  I  AM  not  a  little  flattered  by  your  friendly  and  spirited 
vindication  of  the  poem  on  Bufo*  Among  the  invidious  and  ma- 
licious I  have  got  a  few  enemies  on  account  of  that  performance ; 
among  the  candid  and  generous,  not  one.  This,  joined  to  the  ap- 
probation of  my  own  conscience,  is  entirely  sufficient  to  make  me 
easy  on  that  head.  I  have  not  yet  heard  whether  my  little  work 
has  been  approved  or  condemned  in  England.  I  have  not  even 
heard  whether  it  has  been  published  or  not.  However,  the  days  of 
romantic  hope  are  now  happily  over  with  me,  as  well  as  the  desire 
of  public  applause ;  a  desire  of  which  I  never  had  any  title  to  expect 
the  gratification,  and  which,  though  I  had  been  able  to  gratify  it, 
would  not  have  contributed  a  single  mite  to  my  happiness.  Yet  I 
am  thankful  to  providence  for  having  endued  me  with  an  inclina- 
tion to  poetry ;  for,  though  I  have  never  been  supremely  blest  in 
my  own  muse,  I  have  certainly  been  gratified,  in  the  most  exqui- 
site degree,  by  the  productions  of  others. 

*  "  Verses  on  the  Report  of  a  Monument  to  be  erected  in  Westminster 
"  Abbey,  to  the  memory  of  a  late  Author."     See  p.  56, 


6*!  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Those  pieces  of  mine  from  wluch  I  have  received  the  high- 
est entertainment,  are  such  as  are  altogether  improper  for  publica- 
tion, being  written  in  a  sort  of  burlesque  humour,  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  some  particular  friend,  or  for  some  select  company  ;  of 
these  I  have  a  pretty  large  collection;  and,  though  I  should  be 
ashamed  to  be  publicly  known  as  the  author  of  many  of  them,  I 
cannot  help  entertaining  a  certain  partiality  towards  them,  arising, 
perhaps,  from  this  circumstance  in  their  favour,  that  the  pleasure 
they  have  yielded  me  has  been  altogether  sincere,  unmixed  with 
that  chagrin  which  never  fails  to  attend  an  unfortunate  publication. 

"  Not  long  ago  I  began  a  poem  in  the  style  and  stanza  of  Spen- 
ser, in  which  I  propose  to  give  full  scope  to  my  inclination,  and  be 
either  droll  or  pathetic,  descriptive  or  sentimental,  tender  or  sati- 
rical, as  the  humour  strikes  me ;  for,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  manner 
v/hich  I  have  adopted,  admits  equally  of  all  these  kinds  of  compo- 
sition. I  have  written  one  hundred  and  fifty  lines,  and  am  surprised 
to  find  the  structure  of  that  complicated  stanza  so  little  trouble- 
some. I  was  always  fond  of  it,  for  I  think  it  the  most  harmonious 
that  ever  was  contrived.  It  admits  of  more  variety  of  pauses  than 
either  the  couplet  or  the  alternate  rhyme  ;  and  it  concludes  with  a 
pomp  and  majesty  of  sound,  which,  to  my  ear,  is  wonderfully  de- 
lightful. It  seems  also  very  well  adapted  to  the  genius  of  our  lan- 
guage, which,  from  its  irregularity  of  inflexion  and  number  of  mo- 
nosyllables, abounds  in  diversified  terminations,  and  consequently 
renders  our  poetry  susceptible  of  an  endless  variety  of  legitimate 
rhymes.  But  I  am  so  far  from  intending  this  performance  for  the 
press,  that  I  am  morally  certain  it  never  will  be  finished.  I  shall 
add  a  stanza  now  and  then  when  I  am  at  leisure,  and  when  I  have 
no  humour  for  any  other  amusement :  but  I  am  resolved  to  write 
no  more  poetry  with  a  view  to  publication,  till  I  see  some  dawnings 
of  a  poetical  taste  among  the  generality  of  readers,  of  which,  how- 
ever, there  is  not  at  present  any  thing  like  an  appearance. 

"  My  employment,  and  indeed  my  inclination,  leads  me  rather 
to  prose  composition ;  and  in  this  way  I  have  much  to  do.  The 
doctrines  commonly  comprehended  under  the  name  of  moral  phi- 
losophy are  at  present  over-run  with  metaphysics,  a  luxuriant  and 
tenacious  weed,  which  seldom  fails  to  choak  and  extirpate  the 
wholesome  plants,  which  it  was  perhaps  intended  to  support  and 
shelter.     To  this  literary  weed  I  have  an  insuperable  aversion. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  &$ 

which  becomes  stronger  and  stronger,  in  proportion  as  I  grow  more 
and  more  acquainted  with  its  nature,  and  qualities,  and  fruits.  It 
is  very  agreeable  to  the  paradoxical  and  licentious  spirit  of  the  age ; 
but  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  it  is  fatal  to  true  science,  an 
enemy  to  the  fine  arts,  destructive  of  genuine  sentiment,  and  pre- 
judicial to  the  virtue  and  happiness  of  mankind.  There  is  a  little 
ode  of  yours  on  the  refinements  of  metaphysical  philosophy,  which 
I  often  read  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  and  with  high  approbation 
•f  your  spirit  and  sentiments. 

"  You,  who  would  be  truly  wise, 

*'  To  Nature's  light  unveil  your  eyes, 

"  Her  gentle  call  obey  : 
"  She  leads  by  no  false  wandering  glare, 
"  No  voice  ambiguous  strikes  your  ear, 

"  To  bid  you  vainly  stray. 
"  Not  in  the  gloomy  cell  recluse, 
'♦  For  noble  deeds,  or  generous  views, 

"  She  bids  us  watch  the  night : 
"  Fair  virtue  shines  to  all  display 'd, 
"  Nor  asks  the  tardy  schoolman's  aid, 

"  To  teach  us  what  is  right. 
"  Pleasure  and  pain  she  sets  in  view, 
"  And  which  to  shun,  and  which  pursue, 

"  Instructs  her  pupil's  heart. 
"  Then,  lettev'd  pride  !  say,  what  thy  gain, 
*'  To  mask  with  so  much  fruitless  pain 

"  Thy  ignorance  with  art  ?'-' 


Of  the  following  letter,  there  is  so  much  pleasant  humour  in 
the  first  part,  so  very  unlike  the  admirable  piece  of  criticism  in  the 
second,  that  the  reader,  I  think,  will  thank  me  for  thus  exhibiting 
to  him  the  versatility  of  Dr  Beattie's  powers  of  genius,  which 
could  pass  at  once  from  the  most  playful  to  the  gravest  style  of 
epistolary  correspondence. 

Mr  Boyd,  to  whom  the  letter  is  addressed,  was  the  second  son 
of  the  unfortunate  Earl  of  Kilmarnock,*  and  brother  of  the  Ear]  of 

*  Vide  Appendix,  [C.J 


6l4  life  of  dr  beattie. 

Erroll.  Although  he  had  not  attached  himself  to  any  learned  pro- 
fession, he  had  received  a  literary  education,  and  having  resided 
long  in  France,  he  possessed  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  best 
writers  of  both  countries.  He  was  master  too  of  no  inconsiderable 
portion  of  humour,  and  had  some  turn  for  making  verses ;  qualities 
which  had  the  natural  effect  of  producing  a  friendship  and  corres- 
pondence between  him  and  Dr  Beattie,  that  lasted  till  Mr  Boyd's 
death  at  Edinburgh,  3d  August,  1782. 


LETTER  XIV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  Tllli  HONOURABLE  CHARLES  BOYD. 

Aberdeen,  16th  November,  ir66. 

"  OF  all  the  chagrins  with  which  my  present  infirm  state  of 
health  is  attended,  none  afflicts  me  more  than  my  inability  to  per- 
form the  duties  of  friendship.  The  offer  which  you  were  gene- 
rously pleased  to  make  me  of  your  correspondence,  flatters  me  ex- 
tremely ;  but,  alas !  I  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  avail  myself  of  it. 
While  the  good  weather  continued,  I  strolled  about  the  country, 
and  made  many  strenuous  attempts  to  run  away  from  this  odious 
giddiness ;  but  the  more  I  struggled,  the  more  closely  it  seemed  to 
stick  by  m=.  About  a  fortnight  ago,  the  hurry  of  my  winter  busi- 
ness began ;  and  at  the  same  time  my  malady  recurred  with  more 
violence  than  ever,  rendering  me  at  once  incapable  of  reading, 
writing,  and  thinking.  Luckily  I  am  now  a  little  better,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  read  a  page,  and  write  a  sentence  or  two,  without  stop- 
ping; which,  I  assure  you,  is  a  very  great  matter.  My  hopes  and 
iTiy  spirits  begin  to  revive  once  more.  I  flatter  myself  I  shall  soon 
get  rid  of  this  infirmity  ;  nay,  that  I  shall  ere  long  be  in  the  way  of 
becoming  a  great  mem.  For  have  I  not  head-achs,  like  Pope  ?  ver- 
tigo, like  Swift?  grey  hairs,  like  Homer?  Do  I  not  wear  large 
shoes,  (for  fear  of  corns)  like  Virgil?  and  sometimes  complain  of 
sore  eyes,  (though  not  oi liji^iititde)  like  Horace?  Am  I  not  at  this 
present  writing  invested  with  a  garment,  not  less  ragged  than  that 
of  Socrates?  Like  Joseph  the  patriarch,  I  am  a  mighty  dreamer  of 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  65 

dreams ;  like  Nimrod  the  hunter,  I  am  an  eminent  builder  of  cas- 
tles (in  the  air).  I  procrastinate,  like  Julius  Caesar;  and  very 
lately,  in  imitation  of  Don  Quixotte,  I  rode  a  horse,  lean,  old,  and 
lazy,  like  Rosinante.  Sometimes,  like  Cicero,  I  write  bad  verses ; 
and  sometimes  bad  prose,  like  Virgil  This  last  instance  I  have 
on  the  authority  of  Seneca.  I  am  of  small  stature,  like  Alexan- 
der the  Great ;  I  am  somewhat  inclinable  to  fatness,  like  Dr  Ar- 
buthnot  and  Aristotle;  and  I  drink  brandy  and  water,  like  Mr 
Boyd.  I  might  compare  myself,  in  relation  to  many  other  infir- 
mities, to  many  other  ^-rra^  meii;  but  if  fortune  is  not  influenced  in 
my  favour,  by  the  particulars  already  enumerated,  I  shall  despair 
of  ever  recommending  myself  to  her  good  graces.  I  once  had 
some  thought  of  soliciting  her  patronage  on  the  score  of  my  re- 
sembling great  men  in  their  good  qualities ;  but  I  had  so  little  to 
say  on  that  subject,  that  I  could  not  for  my  life  furnish  matter  for 
one  well-rounded  period  :  and  you  know  a  short  ill-turned  speech 
is  very  improper  to  be  used  in  an  address  to  a  female  deity. 

"  Do  not  you  think  there  is  a  sort  of  antipathy  between  philo- 
sophical and  poetical  genius  ?  I  question,  whether  any  one  person 
was  ever  eminent  for  both.  Lucretius  lays  aside  the  poet  when  he 
assumes  the  philosopher,  and  the  philosopher  when  he  assumes 
the  poet:  In  the  one  character  he  is  truly  excellent,  in  the  other 
he  is  absolutely  nonsensical.  Hobbes  was  a  tolerable  metaphysi- 
cian, but  his  poetry  is  the  worst  that  ever  was.  Pope's  "  Essay  on 
"  Man"  is  the  finest  philosophical  poem  in  the  world ;  but  it  seems 
to  me  to  do  more  honour  to  the  imagination  than  to  the  under- 
standing of  its  author:  I  mean,  its  sentiments  are  noble  and  affect- 
ing, its  images  and  allusions  apposite,  beautiful,  and  new:  its  wit 
transcendently  excellent ;  but  the  scientific  pai't  of  it  is  very  excep- 
tionable. Whatever  Pope  borrows  from  Leibi\itz,  like  most  other 
metaphysical  theories,  is  frivolous  and  unsatisfying:  what  Pope 
gives  us  of  his  own  is  energetic,  irresistible,  and  divkie.  The  in- 
compatibility of  philosophical  and  poetical  genius  is,  1  ihink,  no 
unaccountable  thing.  Poetry  exhibits  the  general  qualities  of  a 
species  ;  philosophy  the  particular  qualities  of  mdividuals.  This 
forms  its  conclusions  from  a  painful  and  minute  examination  of 
single  instances  :  that  decides  instantaneously,  either  from  its  own 
instinctive  sagacity,  or  from  a  singular  and  unaccountable  penetra- 
tion, which  at  one  glance  s(i;cs  all  the  instances  which  the  philoso- 

I 


66  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

pher  must  leisurely  and  progressively  scrutinize,  one  by  one.  This 
persuades  you  gradually,  and  by  detail  ;  the  other  overpowers  you 
in  an  instant  by  a  single  effort.  Observe  the  effect  of  argumenta- 
tion in  poetry  ;  we  have  too  many  instances  of  it  in  Milton  :  it 
transforms  the  noblest  thoughts  into  drawling  inferences,  and  the 
most  beautiful  language  into  prose  :  it  checks  the  tide  of  passion, 
by  giving  the  mind  a  diffex'ent  employment  in  the  comparison  of 
ideas,  A  little  philosophical  acquaintance  with  the  most  beautiful 
parts  of  nature,  both  in  the  material  and  immaterial  system,  is  of 
use  to  a  poet,  and  gives  grace  and  solidity  to  poetry  ;  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  "  Georgics,"  "  The  Seasons,"  and  "  The  Pleasures  of 
"  Imagination :"  but  this  acquaintance,  if  it  is  any  thing  more 
than  superficial,  will  do  a  poet  I'ather  harm  than  good :  and  wijl 
give  his  mind  that  turn  for  minute  observation,  which  enfeebles  the 
fancy  by  restraining  it,  and  counteracts  the  native  energiy  of  judg- 
ment by  rendering  it  fearful  and  suspicious." 


LETTER  XV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  8th  January,  176^ 

"  I  THANK  you  for  your  excellent  description  of  Mrs  Mon- 
tague ;  *  I  have  heard  much  of  that  lady,  and  I  admire  her  as  an 
honour  to  her  sex  and  to  human  nature.  I  am  very  happy  to  hear, 
that,  from  the  favourable  representations  of  my  friends,  she  has 
done  me  the  honour  to  think  of  me  with  approbation.  I  cannot 
flatter  myself  with  the  hope  of  ever  having  it  in  my  power  to  let 
her  know  how  much  I  esteem  her ;  but  I  shall  rejoice  in  the  re- 
membrance of  having  been  in  some  little  degree  esteerned  by  her. 

"  The  favourable  reception  you  gave  to  my  little  poem,t  de- 
mands my  acknowledgments.    I  aimed  at  simplicity  in  the  exprcs- 

*  Tliis  alludes  to  a  letter  which  I  liad  written  to  him,  giving  an  account 
of  a  visit  which  Mrs  Montague  iiad  paid  to  the  late  Dr  Gregory  in  Edin- 
|3urgh,  in  the  autumn  of  1766,  and  to  which  this  letter  of  Dp  Beattie's  is  in 
answer.     He  was  not  then  personally  known  to  Mrs  Montague. 

t  '•  The  Hermit." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  6f 

^lon,  and  something  like  uncommonness  in  the  thought ;  and  I 
own  I  am  not  ill  pleased  with  it  upon  the  whole  ;  though  I  am  sen- 
sible it  does  not  answer  the  purpose  for  which  I  made  it.  I  wrote 
it  at  the  desire  of  a  young  lady  of  this  country,  who  has  a  taste 
both  for  poetry  and  music,  and  wanted  me  to  make  words  for  a 
Scots  tune  called  "  Pentland  hills,"  of  which  she  is  very  fond.  The 
verses  correspond  well  enough  with  the  measure  and  subject  of  the 
tune,  but  are  extremely  unsuitable  for  the  purpose  of  a  song. 

"  My  broken  health,  and  a  hui'Vy  of  other  business,  has  for  a 
long  time  interrupted  my  Italian  studies,  to  my  very  great  regret. 
However,  within  the  last  fortnight,  I  have  read  five  or  six  of  Me- 
tastasio's  operas  with  much  pleasure.  We  are  apt  to  despise  the 
Italian  opera,  and,  perhaps,  not  altogether  without  reason  ;  but  I 
find  the  operas  of  Metastasio  very  far  superior  to  what  I  expected. 
There  is  a  sameness  in  the  fables  and  character  of  this  author;  and 
yet  he  seems  to  me  to  have  more  of  character  in  his  drama  than 
any  other  poet  of  this  or  the  last  age.  A  reader  is  generally  in- 
terested in  his  pieces  from  beginning  to  end ;  for  they  are  full  of 
incident,  and  the  incidents  are  often  surprising  and  unexpected. 
He  has  a  happy  talent  at  heightening  distress ;  and  very  seldom 
falls  into  that  unmeaning  rant  and  declamation  which  abounds  so 
much  on  the  French  stage.  In  a  word,  I  should  not  scruple  to 
compare  the  modern  Italian  opera,  as  it  appears  in  Metastasio,  to 
the  ancient  Greek  tragedy.  The  rigid  observation  of  the  unities 
of  place  and  time,  introduces  many  improprieties  into  the  Greek 
drama,  which  are  happily  avoided  by  the  less  methodical  genius  of 
the  Italian.  I  cannot  indeed  compare  the  little  Italian  songs, 
which  are  often  very  impertinent,  as  well  as  very  silly,  to  the  odes 
of  the  ancient  tragedians  :  but  a  poet  must  always  sacrifice  some- 
thing to  the  genius  of  his  age.  I  dare  say  Metastasio  despises  those 
little  7nor^eaux  of  sing-song ;  and  it  is  evident  from  some  of  his 
performances  in  that  way,  that  he  is  qualified  to  excel  in  the  more 
solemn  lyric  style,  if  it  were  suitable  to  the  taste  of  his  countrymen. 
Some  of  his  little  songs  are  very  pretty,  and  exhibit  agreeable  pic- 
tures of  nature,  with  a  brevity  of  description,  and  sweetness  of  style, 
that  is  hardly  to  be  found  in  any  other  modern  odes.  I  beg  leave 
to  mention  as  instances  the  songs  in  the  7th  and  l5th  scenes  of  the, 
second,  and  the  1st  of  the  third  act  of  "  Artaserse."  By  the  bye, 
the  songs  in  this- opera,  as  it  is  nov/  adapted  to  the  English  stage, 
seem  to  be  verv  ill  translated. 


68  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"You  will  readily  believe,  that  I  rejoice  to  hear  of  Dr  Gregory's 
success,  I  earnestly  wish,  for  the  honour  of  iiuman  nature,  and 
for  the  good  of  society,  that  he  may  stiil  be  more  and  more  succss- 
ful.  The  reception  his  talents  and  his  virtues  have  met  with,  g,ives 
me  a  better  opinion  of  the  present  age  than  1  should  otherwise 
have  had  ;  and  seems  to  prove  that  there  is  yet  in  the  Avorki  some- 
thing of  a  sense  of  virtue  and  regard  to  justice.  I  have  jubt  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  him,  which  I  will  answer  as  soon  as  possible. 
Mr  Arbuthnot  and  he  will  please  to  accept  of  my  best  wishes ; 
may  you  live  long  happy  in  each  other's  society,  and  may  I  have 
the  satisfaction  to  hear  that  you  are  so,  and  that  you  sometimes 
think  of  me  with  pleasure. 

"  There  is  a  famous  stanza  in  the  4th  canto  of  Tasso's  "  Gieru- 
"  salemme,"  which  has  often  been  quoted  as  an  instance  of  Uve 
harmony  of  the  Italian  language. 

"  Chiama  gli  abitator  de  I'ombre  eterne 
"  II  rauco  suon  de  la  tartarea  tromba ; 
"  Treman  le  spaciose  atre  caveine, 
"  E  I'aer  cieco  a  quel  rumor  rimbomba  ; 
'*  Ne  stridendo  cosi  da  le  superne 
"  Regioni  del  cielo  il  folgor  piomba, 
"  Ne  si  scossa  giamal  trema  la  terra, 
"  Quando  i  vapori  in  sen  gravida  serva." 

I  attempted  the  other  day,  in  a  solitary  walk,  to  turn  this  passage' 
into  English,  and  produced  the  following  lines,  which  are  as  obstre- 
perous at  least  as  the  original,  but  I  am  afraid  not  so  agreeably. 

"  Forthwith  to  summon  all  the  tribes  of  hell, 
•'  The  trump  tartarean  pour'd  a  thundering  yell; 
"  Trembled  th'  unfathomable  caverns  round, 
«'  And  night's  vast  void  rebellovv'd  to  tlie  sound  : 
*'  Far  less  the  roar  tliat  rends  th'  ethereal  world, 
"  When  bolts  of  vengeance  from  on  high  are  burl'd; 
"  Far  less  the  shock  that  heaves  earth's  tottering  frame, 
"  When  its  toi-n  entrails  spout  th'  imprison'd  flame."* 


*  In  Dr  Beattie's  "Essay  on  Poetry  and  Music,"*  he  has  given  a  soixie- 
what  different  translation  of  this  stanza 

"  To  call  the  tribes  that  roam  the  Stygian  shores, 
"  The  hoai'se  tartarean  trump  in  thunder  roars; 

*  "  Essay  on  Poetry  and  Music,"  psirt  ii.  cb.  ii,  p.  570. 4te  oL 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  69 

■I  have  not  Hoole  at  hand  just  now  ;  Fairfax  runs  thus  : 

"  The  dreary  trumpet  blew  a  dreadful  blast, 
"  And  rumbled  through  the  lands  and  kingdoms  under? 
"  Through  vastness  wide  it  roared,  and  hollows  vast, 
"  And  filled  the  deep  with  horror,  fear,  and  wonder, 
,  ••  Not  half  so  dreadful  noise  the  tempest  cast, 

"  That  fall  from  skies  with  storms  of  hail  and  thunder; 
"  Not  half  so  loud  the  whistling  winds  do  sing, 
"  Broke  from  the  earthen  prisons  of  their  king." 

This  is  sonorous,  but  tautological,  and  not  quite  true  to  the  origi- 
nal ;  Fairfax  makes  no  mention  of  the  earthquake,  and  introduces 
in  the  place  of  it  what  is  really  a  bathos.  Wind  was  never  so  loud 
as  thunder."* 

*'  Hell  through  her  trembling  caverns  starts  aghast, 

"  And  night's  black  void  rebellows  to  the  blast: 

"  Far  less  the  peal  that  rends  th'  ethereal  world, 

*'  When  bolts  of  vengeance  from  on  high  are  hurl'd; 

"  Far  less  the  shock  that  heaves  earth's  tottering  frame, 

"  When  its  torn  entrails  spout  th'  imprison'd  flame. 

*  In  order  that  the  examination  of  the  merit  of  Dr  Beattie's  ti'anslation  of 
this  famous  stanza  of  Tasso  may  be  the  more  complete,  I  set  down  here  the 
lines  as  they  stand  in  Hoole  ;  which  every  reader  of  any  taste  will  perceive  to 
be  fiat  and  languid  in  the  extreme,  compared  either  with  the  original,  or  with 
!l|eattie's  spirited  version. 

"  The  trumpet  now,  with  hoarse-resounding  breath, 

"  Convenes  the  spirits  in  the  shades  of  death : 

"  The  hollow  caverns  tremble  at  the  sound  { 

"  The  air  re-echoes  to  the  noise  around! 

"  Not  louder  terrors  shake  the  distant  pole, 

"  When  through  the  skies  the  rattling  thunders  roll : 

"  Not  greater  tremors  heave  the  lab'ring  earth, 

•'  When  vapours,  pent  within,  cgntend  for  birtli. 


70  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  XVI. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  AUBUTIINOT,  ESq. 

Aberdeen,  2d  March,  \7&7 . 

"  I  HAVE  led  a  very  I'etired  life  this  winter  ;  the  condition 
of  my  health  having  prevented  my  going  into  company.  By  dint 
of  regularity  and  attention,  I  flatter  myself  I  have  now  established 
my  health  on  a  tolerable  footing;  for  I  have  been  better  during  the 
two  last  months  than  for  a  year  before. 

"  My  leisure  hours,  of  which  I  have  but  few  at  this  season,  have 
been  employed  in  reading  Metastasio,  an  author  whom  I  now  un- 
derstand pretty  well,  and  of  whom  I  am  very  fond.  I  have  also 
finished  my  essay  on — I  know  not  well  how  to  call  it  ;  for  its  pre- 
sent title-page,  "  An  Essay  on  Reason  and  Common  Sense"  must 
be  altered. 

"  Some  persons,  who  wish  well  to  me  and  to  my  principles, 
have  expressed  their  wishes,  in  pretty  strong  terms,  to  see  this  es- 
say in  print.  They  say,  I  have  set  the  sceptics  in  a  new  point  of 
view,  by  treating  them  without  any  kind  of  reserve  or  deference  ; 
and  that  it  might  be  of  use  to  those  who  may  be  in  danger  from 
their  doctrines,  to  consider  them  in  the  same  light.  However,  I  ara 
far  from  being  convinced  that  it  would  be  proper  to  publish  such  a 
treatise  ;  for  the  principles  are  quite  unfashionable  ;  and  there  is  a 
keenness  of  expression  in  some  passages,  which  could  please  only 
a  few,  namely,  those  who  are  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  truth  and 
importance  of  religion.  I  shall  be  directed  entirely  by  you  and 
Dr  Gregory,  and  my  other  friends  at  Edinburgh.  At  any  rate,  I 
do  not  repent  my  having  written  it  ;  it  has  rivetted  my  conviction 
of  the  insignificance  of  metaphysics  and  scepticism  :  and  I  hope  it 
Avill  be  of  some  use  to  the  young  people  under  my  care  ;  for  whose 
principles  (at  least  as  far  as  they  depend  upon  me)  I  hold  myself 
accountable  to  my  own  conscience  and  the  public." 


In  the  following  letter  he  gives  a  hint  of  his  design  of  writing 
the  "  Minstrel." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  ri 

LETTER  XVIL 

DR.  BEATTIE  TO   OR  BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  20th  May,  1767. 

"  MY  performance  in  Spenser's  stanza  has  not  advanced  a 
•single  line  these  many  months.  It  is  called  the  "  Minstrel."  The 
subject  was  suggested  by  a  dissertation  on  the  old  minstrels,  which 
is  prefixed  to  a  ccllection  of  ballads  lately  pviblished  by  Dodsley  in 
three  volumes.  I  propose  to  give  an  account  of  the  birth,  educa- 
tion, and  adventures  jf  one  of  those  bards  ;  in  which  I  shall  have 
full  scope  for  description,  sentiment,  satire,  and  even  a  certain  spe- 
cies of  humour  and  of  pathos,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  my  great 
master,  are  by  no  means  inconsistent,  as  is  evident  from  his  works. 
My  hero  is  to  be  born  in  the  south  of  Scotland  ;  which  you  know 
was  the  native  land  of  the  English  minstrels  ;  I  mean  of  those 
minstrels  who  travelled  into  England,  and  supported  themselves 
there  by  singing  their  ballads  to  the  harp.  His  father  is  a  shepherd. 
The  son  will  have  a  natural  taste  for  music  and  the  beauties  of  na- 
ture ;  which,  however,  languishes  for  want  of  culture,  till  in  due 
time  he  meets  with  a  hermit,  who  gives  him  some  instruction  ; 
but  endeavours  to  check  his  genius  for  poetry  and  adventures,  by 
I'epresenting  the  happiness  of  obscurity  and  solitude,  and  the  bad 
reception  which  poetry  has  met  with  in  almost  every  age.  The 
poor  swain  acquiesces  in  this  advice,  and  resolves  to  follow  his  fa- 
ther's employment ;  when,  on  a  sudden,  the  country  is  invaded  by 
the  Danes  or  English  borderers,  (I  knownot  which)  and  he  is  stript 
of  all  his  little  fortune,  and  obliged  by  necessity  to  commence  min- 
strel. This  is  all  that  I  have  as  yet  concerted  of  the  plan.  I  have 
written  150  lines,  but  my  hei-o  is  not  yet  born,  though  now  in  a  fair 
way  of  being  so,  for  his  parents  are  described  and  married.  I  know 
not  whether  I  shall  ever  proceed  any  farther  :  however,  I  am  not 
dissatisfied  with  Avhat  I  have  written." 


In  perusing  the  following   and  some  subsequent  letters  of  Dr 
Gregory's,  the  reader  of  this  day  cannot  but  be  struck  with  some 


72  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

surprise  at  the  picture  which  Dr.  Gregory  draws  of  the  scepticism 
of  the  times  in  which  he  wrote.  When  Dr  Bcattie  harangues 
against  the  alarming  progress  of  infidelity,  there  ai'e  some  readers 
who  may  believe  his  declamations  to  be  those  of  a  recluse,  uttered 
from  within  the  walls  of  his  college,  by  a  person  totally  unacquaint- 
ed with  life  and  manners.  But  this  cannot  be  said  of  Dr  Gregory, 
who  was  a  man  of  the  world,  of  extensive  observation,  and  who,  by 
living  much  in  society,  with  men  of  all  principles  and  of  all  parties, 
had  the  best  opportunities  of  knowing  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the 
times.  I  know  not  the  person,  therefore,  of  all  my  acquaintance, 
on  whom  I  should  more  fully  rely  for  a  faithful  report  of  the  prevail- 
ing opinions  of  his  day.  Yet  I  would  gladly  flatter  myself,  that 
even  Dr  Gregory,  with  all  his  penetration,  may,  in  this  case,  have 
been  somewhat  mistaken  ;  and  that  his  own  ardent  zeal  for  the 
cause  of  revelation  may  have  too  easily  taken  the  alarm,  where  he 
found  any  tendency  towards  the  growth  of  scepticism.  It  will  be 
observed,  too,  with  what  nice  discrimination  Dr  Gregory  marks 
the  character  of  those  pretenders  to  science,  who  most  probably 
having  never  read,  and  most  certainly  not  understanding,  the  writ- 
ings which  they  affected  so  much  to  admire,  had  blindly  adopted 
the  language  of  those  bold  spirits,  who  rested  their  pretensions  to 
the  character  of  men  of  superior  genius  on  the  paradoxes  they 
maintained  ;  and  their  daring  attack  on  principles  that  had  been 
held  by  the  best  and  wisest  of  men,  as  essential  to  the  truest  inter- 
ests of  human  society. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  character  of  the  preceding 
age,  I  am  happy  to  think,  that  the  same  features  do  not  belong  to 
the  present ;  and  I  rejoice  to  have  witnessed  in  this  case  an  instance 
of  that  beautiful  order  of  Providence,  by  which  evil  is  made  to  ad- 
minister to  its  own  remedy.  The  sceptical  conclusions  of  Mr 
Hume's  philosophy  excited  an  attention,  which  might  not  other- 
Avise  have  been  bestowed  upon  it,  and  stimulated  the  friends  of  re- 
ligion and  of  science  to  inquire  into  the  foundations  upon  which  it 
v/as  built.  It  was  this  inquiry  which  first  produced  the  "  Essay  on 
"  Truth,"  in  which  its  sophistry  was  exposed  to  the  conviction  of 
men  of  reflection,  and  its  consequences  to  human  conduct  and  hap- 
piness unfolded  to  the  apprehension  of  the  most  thoughtless.  It  was 
this  which  afterwards  produced  the  great  work  of  Dr  Reed,*  in 

*  "  Essays  on  the  Intellectual  Powers  of  Man." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  73 

which  its  errors  were  traced  to  their  source,  and  the  mighty  fabric 
of  modern  scepticism  shown  at  last  to  rest  upon  some  of  those 
Weak  hypotheses  which  usually  disgrace  the  infancy  of  science. 

LETTER   XIX. 

Dr    JOHN    GREGORY    TO    DR    BEATTIE. 

Edinburgh,  16th  June,  1767. 

"  I  HAVE  been  in  daily  expectation  of  seeing  your  papers, 
which  you  said  some  time  ago  you  would  send  me.  Pray,  what  is 
become  of  them  ?  By  the  accounts  Mr  Williamson  gave  me  of 
them,  I  am  sure  they  will  be  much  to  my  taste.  I  am  well  con- 
vinced that  the  great  deference  paid  to  our  modern  heathens  has 
been  productive  of  the  worst  effects.  Young  people  are  impressed 
with  an  idea  of  their  being  men  of  superior  abilities,  whose  genius 
has  raised  them  above  vulgar  prejudices,  and  w!io  have  spirit 
enough  to  avow  openly  their  contempt  of  them.  Atheism  and  ma- 
terialism are  the  present  fashion.  If  one  speak  with  warmti;  oi  an 
infinitely  wise  and  good  Being,  who  sustains  and  directs  the  frume 
of  nature,  or  expresses  his  steady  belief  of  a  future  state  of  exist- 
ence, he  gets  hints  of  his  having  either  a  very  weak  understanding, 
or  of  being  a  very  great  hypocrite.  Christianity  seems  to  be  now 
thought  even  below  these  gentlemen's  ridicule,  as  I  never  almost 
hear  a  sneer  against  it.  There  is  an  insolence  and  a  daring  effron- 
tery in  this  which  is  extremely  provoking.  But  what  hurts  me 
most  is  the  emphatic  silence  of  those  who  should  be  supposed  to 
hold  very  different  sentiments  on  these  subjects.  The  world  sup- 
poses that  no  man  will  tamely  hear  sentiments  ridiculed  which  he 
holds  as  the  most  deeply  interesting  and  sacred,  without  express- 
ing such  dissatisfaction  as  wovdd  effectually  prevent  any  gentleman 
of  tolerable  good  breeding  from  repeating  the  insult,  or  at  least, 
that  he  would  endeavour  to  retort  the  ridicule,  if  he  was  not  con- 
scious of  the  weakness  of  his  cause.  Till  within  these  tliirty  years, 
the  wit  was  generally  on  the  side  of  religion.  I  do  not  remember 
any  man  of  the  least  pretensions  to  genius  in  Britain,  who  ever 
thought  of  subverting  every  principle  of  natural  religion  till  of  late. 
And  if  the  present  spirit  is  not  very  speedily  checked,  I  am  confi- 

K 


n  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

dent  it  will  give  the  finishing  stroke  to  that  corruption  of  heart  and 
principles  which  makes  such  an  alarming  progress.  It  is  not  worth 
while  to  say,  after  this,  that  it  will  as  certainly  and  speedily  sup- 
press all  great  efforts  of  genius  and  imagination.  You  are  the  best 
man  I  know  to  chastise  these  people  as  they  deserve.  You  have 
more  philosophy  and  more  wit  than  will  be  necessary  for  the  pur- 
pose, though  you  can  never  employ  any  of  them  in  so  good  a 
cause." 


On  the  28th  June,  1767,  Dr  Beattie  was  married  at  Aberdeen, 
to  Miss  Mary  Dun,  the  only  daughter  of  Dr  James  Dun,  rector  of 
the  grammar  school  there.  From  the  period  of  his  establishment 
at  Aberdeen,  he  had  naturally  been  much  connected  in  social  inter- 
course with  Dr  Dun's  family.  His  daughter  was  a  few  years 
younger  than  Dr  Beattie ;  she  was  tolerably  handsome,  and  lively 
in  conversation,  sung  a  little,  and  accompanied  her  voice  with  the 
harpsichord.  As  these  were  accomplishments  exactly  suited  to 
the  taste  of  Dr  Beattie,  whose  heart  was  full  of  sensibility,  no  won- 
der, that  what  was  at  first  the  ordinary  interchange  of  civility,  grew 
into  a  strong  and  mutual  attachment.  When,  therefore,  Dr 
Beattie  found  himself  in  a  situation  in  which  he  had  the  reasonable 
prospect  of  being  able  to  maintain  a  wife  and  family,  he  naturally 
wished,  like  every  virtuous  man,  to  marry ;  and  he  thought  himself 
more  than  commonly  fortunate,  in  having  met,  in  Miss  Dun,  with 
a  mate  so  exactly  suited  to  his  taste,  with  whom  he  hoped  for  that 
measure  of  happiness,  which  the  married  state,  when  wisely  en- 
gaged in,  is,  of  all  other  states,  the  best  calculated  to  insure. 

This  connexion,  however,  from  which  he  augured  such  lasting 
felicity,  unfortunately  proved  to  him  the  source  of  the  deepest  sor- 
row, Mrs  Beattie,  having  inherited  from  her  mother  that  most 
dreadful  of  all  human  evils,  a  distempei'ed  mind,  which,  although 
it  did  not,  for  a  considerable  time,  break  out  into  open  insanity,  yet, 
in  a  few  years  after  their  marriage,  showed  itself  in  caprices  that 
embittered  every  hour  of  his  life,  till,  at  last,  it  unquestionably  con- 
tributed to  bring  him  to  his  grave. 


The  following  letter  is  curious,  as  it  gives  us  his  sentiments  of 
some  of  Rousseau's  works  at  a  very  early  period. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  75 

Of  that  celebrated  philosopher,  and  his  writings,  Dr  Beattie 
has  since  given  an  elaborate  and  masterly  character  in  a  long  note 
in  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  Part  III.  ch.  ii.  p.  291.  4to  edit. 


LETTER  XX. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  JAMES  WILLIAMSON.* 

Aberdeen,  22d  October,  1767. 

"  I  HAVE  been  studying  Rousseau's  miscellanies  of  late.  His 
"  Epistle  to  D'Alembert,"  on  theatrical  exhibitions,  I  think  ex- 
cellent, and  perfectly  decisive.     His  discourse  on  the  effects  of  the 
sciences  is  spirited  to  a  high  degree,  and  contains  much  matter  of 
melancholy  meditation.     I  am  not  so  much  of  his  mind  in  regard 
to  the  origin  of  inequality  among  mankind,  though  I  think  the 
piece  on  this  subject  has  been  much  misunderstood  by  critics,  and 
misrepresented  by  wits.     Even  by  his  own  confession,  it  is  rather 
a  jeu  d'esprit  than  a  philosophical  inquiry ;  for  he  owns  that  the  na- 
tural state,  such  as  he  represents  it,  did  probably  never  take  place, 
and  probably  never  will ;  and  if  it  had  taken  place,  he  seems  to 
think  it  impossible  that  mankind  should  ever  have  emerged  from 
it  without  some  very  extraordinary  alteration  in  the  course  of  na- 
ture.    Farther,  he  says,  that  this  natural  state  is  not  the  most  ad- 
vantageous for  man ;  for  that  the  most  delightful  sentiments  of  the 
human  mind  could  not  exert  themselves  till  man  had  relinquished 
his  brutal  and  solitary  nature,  and  become  a  domestic  animal.     At 
this  period,  and  previous  to  the  establishment  of  property,  he  places 
the  age  most  favourable  to  human  happiness ;  which  is  just  what 
the  poets  have  done  before  him,  in  their  description  of  the  golden 
age.     So  that  his  system  is  not  that  preposterous  thing  it  has  been 
represented.     Yet  he  says  many  things  in  this  treatise  to  which  I 
cannot  agree.     His   solitary  and  savage  man  is  too  much  of  a 

*  Mr  Williamson  had  been  lils  pupil,  and  had  g-iined  his  friendship. 
That  gentleman  went  afterwards  to  Oxford,  where  he  became  a  fellow  of 
Hertford  College,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  skill  in  mathematics. 
He  published  a  "  Commentary  on  Euclid's  Elements,"  also  an  "  Argument 
in  favour  of  Chi'istianity,"  and  now  holds  the  living  of  Plumtree,  near 
Nottingham. 


76  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

brute ;  and  many  of  his  observations  are  founded  on  facts  not  well 
ascertained,  and  very  ambiguous  in  their  meaning.  There  is  a 
little  treatise  of  his  which  he  calls  a  letter  to  Mr  Voltaire,  which  I 
read  with  much  pleasure,  as  I  found  it  to  be  a  transcript  of  my  own 
sentiments  in  regard  to  Pope's  maxim,  "  Whatever  is,  is  right." 


LETTER  XXL 


DR  JOHN  GREGORY  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Edinburgh,  1st  January,  1768. 

"  I  APPROVE  much  of  your  plan,*  and  am  confident  you  will 
execute  it  in  a  manner  that  will  do  you  credit,  aijd  promote  the  in- 
terests of  virtue  and  mankind.  You  are  well  aware  of  the  antipathy 
which  the  present  race  of  readers  have  against  all  abstract  reason- 
ing, except  what  is  employed  in  defence  of  the  fashionable  princi- 
ples; but  though  they  pretend  to  admire  their  metaphysical  cham- 
pions, yet  they  never  read  them,  nor,  if  they  did,  could  they  under- 
stand them.  Among  Mr  Hume's  numerous  disciples,  I  do  not 
know  one  who  ever  read  his  "  Treatise  on  Human  Nature."  In 
order,  therefore,  to  be  read,  you  must  not  be  satisfied  with  reason- 
ing with  justness  and  perspicuity  ;  you  must  write  with  pathos, 
with  elegance,  with  spirit,  and  endeavour  to  warm  the  imagination, 
and  touch  the  heart  of  those,  who  are  deaf  to  the  voice  of  reason. 
V/hatever  you  write  in  the  way  of  criticism  will  be  read,  and,  if 
my  particlity  to  you  does  not  deceive  me,  be  admired.  Every 
thing  relating  to  the  "  Belles  lettres"  is  read,  or  pretended  to  be 
read.  Vv'^hat  has  made  Lord  Kaims's  "  Elements  of  Criticism"  so 
popular  in  England,  is  bis  numerous  illustrations  and  quotations 
from  Shakespeare.  If  his  book  had  wanted  these  illustrations,  or  if 
they  had  be^n  taken  from  ancient  or  foreign  authors,  it  would  not 
have  been  so  generally  read  in  England.  This  is  a  good  political 
hint  to  you,  in  your  capacity  of  an  author  ;  and  certainly,  if  you 
write  to  the  world,  and  wish  to  gain  their  approbation,  you  must 
write  in  such  a  manner  as  experience  shows  to  be  efftxtual  for  that 
purpose,  if  that  manner  be  not  criminal." 

♦  The  plan  of  the  "Essay  on  Truth." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  77 


LETTER  XXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  17th  January,  1768. 

"  I  HAVE  been  intending,  for  these  several  weeks,  to  write  to 
you,  thouEjh  it  were  only  to  assure  you  of  the  continuance  of  my 
esteem  and  attachment.  This  place,  you  know,  furnishes  little 
amusement,  either  political,  or  literary  ;  and  at  this  season  it  is 
ratiier  more  barren  than  usual. 

"  I  have,  for  a  time,  laid  aside  my  favourite  studies,  that  I  might 
have  leisure  to  prosecute  a  philosophical  inquiry,  less  amusing 
indeed  than  poetry  and  criticism,  but  not  less  important.  The 
extraordinary  success  of  tne  sceptical  philosophy  has  long  filled 
me  with  regret.  I  wish  I  could  undeceive  mankind  in  regard  to 
this  matter ;  perhaps  this  wish  is  vain  ;  but  it  can  do  no  harm  to 
make  the  trial.  The  point  I  am  now  labouring  to  prove,  is  the 
universality  and  immutability  of  moral  sentiment,  a  point  which 
has  been  brought  into  dispute,  both  by  the  friends  and  by  the 
enemies  of  virtue.  In  an  age  less  licentious  in  its  principles,  it 
would  not,  perhaps,  be  necessary  to  insist  much  on  this  point.  At 
present  it  is  very  necessary.  Philosophers  have  ascribed  all  reli- 
gion to  human  policy.  Nobody  knows  how  soon  they  may  ascribe 
all  morality  to  the  same  origin ;  and  then  the  foundations  of  human 
society,  as  well  as  of  human  happiness,  Avill  be  effectually  under- 
niined.  To  accomplish  this  end,  Hobbes,  Hume,  Mandeville,  and 
even  Locke,  have  laboured  ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say,  from  my  know- 
ledge of  mankind,  that  their  labour  has  not  been  altogether  in  vain. 
Not  that  the  works  of  these  philosophers  are  generally  read,  or 
even  understood  by  the  few  who  read  them.  It  is  not  the  mode, 
now-a-days,  for  a  man  to  think  for  himself;  but  they  greedily  adopt 
the  conclusions,  without  any  concern  about  the  arguments  or  prin- 
ciples whence  they  proceed ;  and  they  justify  their  own  credulity 
by  general  declamations  upon  the  transcendent  merit  of  their  fii- 
vourite  authors,  and  the  universal  deference  that  is  paid  to  their 
genuis  and  learning.     If  I  c;m  prove  those  authors  guilty  of  gross 


rz  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

misrepresentations  of  matters  of  fact,  unacquainted  with  the  human 
heart,  ignorant  even  of  their  own  principles,  the  dupes  of  verbal 
ambiguities,  and  the  votaries  of  frivolous,  though  dangerous  phi- 
losopliy,  I  shall  do  some  little  service  to  the  cause  of  truth ;  and 
all  this  I  will  undertake  to  prove  in  many  instances  of  high  im- 
port-ince. 

"  You  have  no  doubt  seen  Dr  Blacklock's  new  book.*  I  was 
very  much  surprised  to  see  my  name  prefixed  to  the  dedication,  as 
he  never  had  given  me  the  least  intimation  of  such  a  design.  His 
friendship  does  me  great  honour.  I  should  be  sorry,  if,  in  this 
instance,  it  has  got  the  better  of  his  prudence  ;  and  I  have  some 
reason  to  fear,  that  my  name  will  be  no  recommendation  to  the 
work,  at  least  in  this  place,  where,  however,  the  book  is  very  well 
spoken  of,  by  some  who  have  read  it.  I  should  like  to  know  how 
it  takes  at  Edinburgh. 

LETTER  XXIIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESQ. 

Aberdeen,  25th  February,  1768. 

"  I  INTENDED  long  ago  to  write  to  you  ;  but  several 
pieces  of  business,  some  of  them  unexpected,  have,  from  time  to 
time,  prevented  me.  The  writing  out  a  copy  of  Mr  Gray's  poems 
for  the  press  has  employed  me  the  last  fortnight.  They  are  to  be 
printed  at  Glasgow  by  Foulis,  with  the  author's  ovm  permission, 
which  I  solicited  and  obtained  :  and  he  sent  me  four  folio  pages 
of  notes  and  additions  to  be  insei-ted  in  the  new  edition.  The  notes 
are  cliiefly  illustrations  of  the  two  Pindaric  odes,  more  copious  in- 
deed than  I  should  have  thought  necessary  :  but  I  understand  he 
is  not  a  little  chagrined  at  the  complaints  which  have  been  made 
of  their  obscurity  ;  and  he  tells  me,  that  he  wrote  these  notes  out 
of  spite.  "  The  long  Story"  is  left  out  in  this  edition,  at  which  I 
am  not  well  pleased:  for,  though  it  has  neither  head  nor  tail,  be- 
ginning nor  end,  it  abounds  in  humorous  description,  and  the 
versification  is  exquisitely  fine.    Three  new  poems  (never  before 

*  "  Paraclesi?,  or  Consolations." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  79 

printed)  are  inserted :  two  of  which  are  imitations  from  the  Nor- 
wegian, and  one  is  an  imitation  from  the  Welch.  He  versified 
them  (he  says)  "  because  there  is  a  wild  spirit  in  them  which 
"  struck  him."  From  the  first  of  the  Norwegian  pieces  he  has 
taken  the  hint  of  the  we6,  in  the  ode  on  the  Welch  bards ;  but  the 
imitation  far  exceeds  the  original.  The  original  in  his  version  be- 
gins in  this  manner : 

«•  Now  the  storm  begins  to  lower ; 

"  Haste,  the  loom  of  hell  prepare : 
"  Iron  sleet  of  arrowy  shower 

"  Hurtles  in  the  darken'd  air. 
"  See  the  grisly  texture  grow; 

"  'Tis  of  human  entrails  made; 
"  And  the  weights  that  play  below, 

*'  Each  a  gaspiiig  warrior's  liead. 
"  Shafts,  for  shuttles,  dipt  in  gore, 

"  Shoot  the  trembling  cords  along; 
"  Sword,  that  once  a  monarch  bore, 

"  Keep  the  tissue  close  and  strong." 

"  The  second  Norwegian  piece,  is  a  dialogue  between  Odin  and 
a  prophetess  in  her  grave,  whom,  by  incantation,  he  makes  to 
speak.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  in  it  is  the  following 
description  of  a  dog,  which  far  exceeds  every  thing  of  the  kind  I 
have  seen. 

"  Him  the  dog  of  darkness  spied, 
"  His  shaggy  throat  he  opened  wide, 
*'  While  from  his  jaws,  with  carnage  fiU'd, 
"  Foam  and  human  gore  distill'd. 
"  Hoarse  he  bays  with  hideous  din, 
"  Eyes  that  glow,  and  fangs  that  grin ; 
"  And  long  pursues,  with  fruitless  yell, 
**  The  father  of  the  powerful  spell." 

"  I  give  you  these  passages,  partly  to  satisfy,  and  partly  to 
raise,  your  curiosity.  I  expect  the  book  will  be  out  in  a  few  weeks, 
if  Foulis  be  diligent,  which  it  is  his  interest  to  be,  as  there  is  ano- 
ther edition  of  the  same  just  now  printing  by  Dodsley.  I  gave  him 
notice  of  this,  by  Mr  Gray's  desire,  two  months  ago ;  but  it  did  not 
in  the  least  abate  his  zeal  for  the  undertaking." 


80  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

The  following  note  to  his  friend  Mr  Tytler,  accompanying  the 
beautiful  little  poem  "  The  Hermit,"  has  no  date,  but  was  probably 
written  in  the  year  1767,  at  the  time  he  was  in  Edinburgh.  The 
poem  itself  was  written  in  the  year  1766,  as  he  mentions  it  in  his 
letter  to  me,  8th  January  1767,  as  a  late  production  of  his  muse, 
and  the  occasion  of  it.  It  was  a  very  flattering  compliment  to  Mr 
Tytler,  who  had  composed  the  tune  of  "  Pentland  Hills,"  v/liich 
the  words  were  to  accompany,  in  imitation  of  our  ancient  Scottish 
melodies,  of  which  he  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer.  For  some  ac- 
count of  Mr  Tytler,  whom  I  had  the  happiness  to  rank  among  the 
number  of  my  intimate  and  most  respected  friends,  see  the  Appen- 
dix,  [O.] 


LETTER  XXIV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  WILLIAM  TYTLER,  ESQ.  OF  WOODHOUSELEE. 

Edinburgh,  Thursday,  Noon. 

"  THE  above  is  a  copy  of  the  verses  I  wrote  for  your  tune  of 
"  Pentland  Hills."  The  sentiments,  I  fear,  are  not  such  as  become 
a  song ;  but  the  measure  corresponds  well  enough  with  the  music. 
I  shall  be  glad  to  know  your  sentiments  of  this  performance." 


The  following  letter  to  his  sister  strongly  marks  the  strengtli 
of  Dr  Beattie's  filial  affection. 


LETTER  XXV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  VALENTINE. 

Aberdeen,  27th  March,  1768. 

"  FOR  some  weeks  past,  I  have  been  wishing  to  have  it  in 
my  power  to  write  to  you  my  opinion  concerning  the  way  in  which 
our  mother's  affairs  are  to  be  settled.     The  death  of  our  two  sis- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  "si 

ters  *  has  produced  a  great  alteration  in  her  circumstances,  and 
win,  I  am  afraid,  serve  to  render  the  remainder  of  her  life  more 
melancholy  than  could  be  wished.  We  ought,  however,  to  endea- 
vour, as  much  as  possible,  to  prevent  this,  and  to  settle  her  in  as 
comfortable  a  situation  as  we  can. 

"  Of  the  state  of  her  affairs,  as  they  are  at  present,  and  as  they 
have  been  for  three  or  four  years  past,  I  am  almost  wholly  igno- 
rant ;  and  out  of  tenderness  to  my  sister,  I  did  not  care  to  make  too 
particular  an  enquiry.  But  matters  are  now  come  to  that  pass, 
that  there  is  a  necessity  for  doing  something.  I  have  written  to 
my  mother  and  brother  to  this  purpose :  but  every  thing  I  now 
write  is  but  guess-work :  for  I  have  got  no  particular  account  either 
of  my  mother's  circumstances,  or  of  what  she  would  wish  to  have 
done ;  and  this  is  the  reason  I  did  not  write  to  you  sooner.  I  wrote 
to  my  brother,  desiring  some  information  on  this  head.  My  mo- 
ther's inclinations  ought  to  be  consulted  in  the  first  place.  What- 
ever way  of  life  is  most  agreeable  to  her,  shall  be  so  to  me.  But 
till  I  know  her  inclinations,  I  can  say  nothing.  On  my  part,  no- 
thing shall  be  wanting  to  render  her  old  age  as  comfortable  as  pos- 
sible." 

LETTER  XXVI. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  1st  July,  1768. 

"  I  HAVE  at  last  found  an  opportunity  of  sending  you  the 
Scottish  poems  which  I  mentioned  in  a  former  letter.f  The  dia- 
lect is  so  licentious  (I  mean  it  is  so  different  from  that  of  the  south 
country,  which  is  acknowledged  the  standard  of  broad  Scotch),  that 
I  am  afraid  you  will  be  at  a  loss  to  understand  it  in  many  places. 
However,  if  you  can  overlook  this  inconvenience ;  together  with 
the  tediousness  of  some  passages,  and  the  absurdity  of  others,  I 

*  Who  had  lived  with  her. 

t  The  "  Fortunate  Shepherdess,"  and  other  poems  in  the  broad  Scots 
(Jialect,  published  at  Aberdeen,  in  1768,  by  Alexander  Ross  of  Lochlee. 


82  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

doubt  not  but  you  will  receive  some  amusement  from  the  perusal. 
The  author  excels  most  in  describing  the  solitary  scenes  of  a 
mountainous  country,  and  the  manners  and  conversation  of  the 
lowest  sort  of  our  people.  Whenever  he  attempts  to  step  out  of 
this  sphere,  he  becomes  absurd.  This  sphere  is  indeed  the  only 
one  of  which  he  has  had  any  experience.  He  has  been  for  these 
forty  years  a  schoolmaster  in  one  of  the  most  sequestered  parishes 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  where  he  had  no  access  either  to 
company  or  books  that  could  improve  him.  His  circumstances  and 
employment  confine  him  at  home  the  whole  year  long ;  so  that  his 
compositions,  with  all  their  imperfections,  are  really  surprising.  My 
personal  acquaintance  with  him  began  only  two  years  ago,  when 
he  had  occasion  to  come  to  this  town,  on  some  urgent  business. 
He  is  a  good-humoui'ed,  social,  happy  old  man;  modest  without 
clownishness,  and  lively  without  petulance.  He  put  into  my  hands 
a  great  number  of  manuscripts  in  verse,  chiefly  on  religious  sub- 
jects: I  believe  Sir  Richard  Blackmore  himself  is  not  a  more  vo- 
luminous author.  The  poems  now  published  seemed  to  me  the 
best  of  the  whole  collection:  indeed  many  of  the  others  would 
hardly  bear  a  readmg.  He  told  me  he  had  never  written  a  single 
line  with  a  view  to  publication ;  but  only  to  amuse  a  solitary  hour. 
Some  gentlemen  in  this  country  set  on  foot  a  subscription  for  his 
Scottish  poems,  in  consequence  of  which  they  were  printed,  and 
he  will  clear  by  the  publication  about  twenty  pounds,  a  sum  far  ex- 
ceeding his  most  sanguine  expectations ;  for  I  believe  he  would 
thankfully  have  sold  his  whole  works  for  five.  In  order  to  excite 
some  curiosity  about  his  work,  I  wrote  some  verses  in  the  dialect 
pf  this  country,  which,  together  with  an  introductory  letter  in 
English  prose,  were  published  in  the  Aberdeen  Journal ;  *  and  the 
bookseller  tells  me,  he  has  sold  about  thirty  copies  since  they  ap- 
peared. I  have  sent  you  inclosed  a  copy  of  the  verses,  with  a  glos- 
sary of  the  hardest  words,  Havuig  never  before  attempted  to  write 
any  thing  in  this  way,  I  thought  I  could  not  have  done  it,  and  was 
not  a  little  surprised  to  find  it  so  easy.  However,  I  fear  I  have  ex- 
hausted my  whole  stock  of  Scottish  words  in  these  few  lines ;  for  I 
endeavoured  tu  make  the  style  as  broad  as  possible,  that  it  might 
be  the  better  adapted  to  the  taste  of  those  whose  curiosity  I  wished 

*  Vide  Appendix,  [P.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  83 

to  raise.  You  will  observe,  that  Mr  Ross  is  peculiarly  unfortunate 
in  his  choice  of  proper  names.  One  of  his  heroes  is  called  by  a 
woman's  name,  Rosalind.  The  injurious  mountaineers  he  called 
Seviiiansy  with  a  view  no  doubt  to  express  their  cruelty  ;  but  the 
printer,  not  understanding  Latin,  has  changed  it  into  Sevilians. 
The  whole  is  incorrectly  printed. 

"  The  following  epigram  has  some  merit.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  written  by  Voltaire  ;  but  this  I  doubt.  I  have  subjoined  a 
translation,  of  which  I  only  wrote  the  first  five  lines.  The  three 
last  are  by  Mr  Charles  Boyd,  Lord  Erroll's  brother. 

Mfiitafihe  stir  le  Roi  de  Prusse. 

"  Ce  mortel  profana  tous  les  talens  divers, 
"  II  charma  les  humains  qui  furent  ses  victimes, 
"  Barbare  en  action,  et  philosophe  en  vers, 
*«  II  ctianta  les  vertus,  et  commit  tous  les  crimes. 
"  Hai  du  Dieu  d' Amour,  cher  au  Dieu  de  Combats, 
«♦  II  bagna  dans  le  sang  I'Europe  et  la  patrie, 
"  Cent  mille  hommes  par  lui  regurent  le  trepan, 
•'  Et  pas  un  n'en  re^ut  la  vie." 

*'  He  every  human  talent  misemployed, 

"  And  men  at  once  delighted  and  destroyed ; 

"  Savage  in  action,  but  a  sage  in  rhyme, 

**  Each  virtue  sung,  and  practised  every  crime ; 

"  The  scorn  of  Venus,  but  of  Mars  the  pride, 

"  He  filled  his  country  and  the  world  with  strife, 
"  Thousands  for  him  in  honour's  bed  have  died, 

"  But  from  his  own  not  one  e'er  sprung  to  life." 


LETTER  XXVIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  18th  September,  1768. 

"  YOU  mention  the  new  edition  of  Mr  Gray's  poems.  It 
came  out  some  months  ago  ;  and  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  most  ele- 
gant pieces  of  printing  that  the  Glasgow  press,  or  any  other  press. 


84  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

has  ever  produced.  It  does  honour  to  every  person  concerned  in 
it ;  to  Mr  Foulis  the  printer,  and  even  to  me  the  publisher,  as  well 
as  to  the  author.  The  additional  pieces,  though  not  of  so  much 
consequence  as  his  other  poems,  have  eMsry  kind  of  merit  of  which 
they  are  susceptible  ;  strength,  elegance,  and  perspicuity  of  style, 
and  exquisite  harmony  of  numbers.  But  you  liave  certainly  seen 
them,  and  therefore  I  need  not  say  more  about  them." 


LETTER  XXVIII. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  HONOURABLE  CHARLES  BOYD.* 

"  I  PROMISED  to  give  you  my  opinion  of  the  "  Henriade;" 
but  I  must  premise,  that  I  take  it  for  granted  you  have  not  impli- 
citly adopted  the  notions  of  the  French  critics  with  regard  to  this 
poem.  I  hear  it  is  accounted  by  them  the  greatest  poem,  that  ever 
human  wit  produced  in  any  age  or  nation.  For  my  part,  I  judge 
of  it  without  prejudice  either  for  or  against  it,  and  as  I  would  judge 
of  Tasso's  "  Gerusalemme,"  or  any  other  work,  in  whose  fate  I 
have  no  national  concern. 

"  Among  the  beauties  of  this  work  I  would  reckon  its  style* 
which,  though  raised  above  prose  as  much  as  the  genius  of  the 
language  will  permit,  is  yet  elegant  and  simple,  though  sometimes, 
to  one  accustomed  to  English  poetry,  it  may  have  the  appearance 
of  being  too  prosaic.  "  Ou  plutot  en  effet  Valois  ne  regnait  plus" 
— "  Henri  s^ait  profiter  de  ce  grand  advantage" — "  C'est  un  usage 
"  antique  et  sacre  parmi  nous" — "  De  Paris  a  I'instant  il  fait  ouvrir 
"  la  porte" — and  many  others,  have  nothing  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  flattest  prose  but  the  measure  and  rhyme.  But  I  do  not 
insist  on  this  as  a  fault ;  for  the  same  objection  might  be  made  to 
the  finest  poems  in  the  world ;  and  I  know  not  whether  a  flatness 
of  this  kind  may  not  sometimes  have  a  good  eff'ect,  and  heighten, 
as  it  were,  the  relief  of  the  more  distinguished  parts.     The  versi- 

*  This  letter  has  no  date,  but  was  probably  written  in  the  year  1767, 
as  he  speaks  of  the  translation  of  Tasso  as  being-  recently  finished.  See 
letter  XV. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  8S 

fication  of  the  "  Henriade"  is  agreeable,  and  often  more  harmonious 
than  one  could  expect,  who  has  not  a  greater  niceness  of  ear  in 
regard  to  the  French  numbers  than  I  can  pretend  to  have.  I  know 
not  whence  it  happens,  that  I,  who  am  very  sensible  of  the  Greek, 
Latin,  and  Italian  harmony,  can  never  bring  myself  to  relish  that 
of  the  French,  although  I  understand  the  French  language,  as  well 
as  any  of  the  others.  Is  it  true,  as  Rousseau  asserts,  that  this  lan- 
guage, on  account  of  the  incessant  monotony  of  the  pronunciation, 
is  incapable  of  harmony  ?  I  should  like  to  have  your  sentiments  on 
this  subject. 

*'  The  thoughts  or  reflections  in  this  poem  are  not  too  much 
crowded,  nor  affectedly  introduced ;  they  are,  in  general,  proper  and 
jiervous,  frequently  uncommons.  The  author  evidently  appears  to 
be  a  man  of  wit,  yet  he  does  not  seem  to  take  any  pains  to  appear 
so.  The  fable  is  distinct,  perspicuous,  and  intelligible ;  the  charac- 
ter of  Henry  historically  just;  and  the  description  of  particular  ob- 
jects apposite,  and  sometimes  picturesque. 

"  But  his  descriptions  are  often  of  too  general  a  nature,  and 
want  that  minuteness  which  is  necessary  to  interest  a  reader.  They 
are  rather  historical  than  poetical  description.  This  is  no  verbal 
distinction ;  there  is  real  ground  for  it.  An  historian  may  describe 
from  hearsay ;  a  poet  must  describe  from  seeing  and  experience  ; 
and  this  he  is  enabled  to  do  by  making  use  of  the  eye  of  imagina- 
tion. What  makes  a  description  natural  ?  It  is  sucli  a  selection  of 
particular  qualities  as  we  think  that  we  ourselves  would  have  made, 
if  we  had  been  spectators  of  the  object.  What  makes  a  description 
picturesque  ?  It  is  a  selection,  not  of  every  circumstance  or  quali- 
ty, but  of  those  which  most  powerfully  attract  the  notice  and  influ- 
ence the  affections  and  imagination  of  the  spectator.  In  a  word,  a 
poet  must,  either  in  vision  or  reality,  be  a  spectator  of  the  objects 
he  undertakes  to  describe :  an  historian  (being  confined  to  truth)  is 
generally  supposed  to  describe  from  hearsay ;  or,  if  he  describe  what 
he  has  seen,  he  is  not  at  liberty  to  insert  one  circumstance,  and  omit 
another,  magnify  this,  and  diminish  that,  bring  one  forward,  and 
thi'ow  the  other  into  the  back  ground ;  he  must  give  a  detail  of  all 
the  circumstances,  as  far  as  he  knows  them,  otherwise  he  is  not  a 
faithful  historian.  Now,  I  think,  through  the  whole  of  this  poem, 
Voltaire  shows  himself  more  uf  a  historian  than  a  poet;  we  under- 


86  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

stand  well  enough  what  he  says,  but  his  representations,  for  the 
most  part,  are  neither  picturesque  nor  affecting. 

"  To  one  who  has  read  the  second  book  of  \'^irgil,  Voltaire's 
massacre  of  St  Bartholomew  will  appear  very  trifling.  It  is  tinin- 
teresting  and  void  of  incident;  the  horrors  of  it  arise  only  upon 
reflection ;  the  imagination  is  not  terrified,  though  the  moral  sense 
disapproves.  The  parting  of  Henry  and  Mad.  D'Estrees  is  ano- 
ther passage  that  disappointed  me  ;  it  is  expressed  in  a  few  gene- 
ral terms,  that  produce  no  effect.  The  parting  of  Dido  and  JLueas, 
of  Armida  and  Rinaldo,  are  incomparably  fine,  and  do  as  far  ex- 
ceed that  of  Henry  and  his  paramoui',  as  the  thunder  of  heaven 
transcends  the  mustard-bowl  of  the  playhouse. 

"  There  is  hardly  an  attempt  at  character  in  the  poem.  That 
of  Henry  is  purely  historical ;  and,  though  well  enough  supported 
on  the  whole,  is  not  placed  in  those  difficult  and  trying  circum- 
stances, which  draw  forth  into  action  the  minuter  springs  of  the 
soul.  Before  I  get  to  the  end  of  the  Iliad,  I  am  as  much  acquaint- 
ed with  Homer's  heroes  as  if  I  had  been  personally  known  to  them 
all  for  many  years  ;  but  of  Voltaire's  hero  I  have  only  a  confus- 
ed notion.  I  know  him  to  be  brave  and  amorous,  a  lover  of  his 
country,  and  affectionate  to  his  friends ;  and  this  is  all  I  know 
of  him,  and  I  could  have  learned  as  much  from  a  common  news- 
paper. 

"  I  acknowledge  Voltaire's  fable  to  he  perspicuous,  but  I  think 
it  uninteresting,  especially  towards  the  end.  We  foresee  the 
event,  but  our  expectations  are  not  raised  by  it.  The  catastrophe 
is  not  brought  about  by  any  striking  incident,  but  by  a  sei'ies  of  in- 
cidents that  have  little  or  nothing  in  them  to  engage  or  surprise  the 
reader.  Henry's  conversion  is  a  very  poor  piece  of  work.  Truth 
descends  from  heaven  to  the  king's  tent,  with  a  veil  over  her,  which 
she  removes  by  little  and  little,  till  at  length  her  whole  person  ap- 
pears in  a  glorious,  but  undazzling  lustre.  This  may  be  good  phi- 
losophy, but  it  is  very  indifferent  poetry.  It  affects  not  the  imagi- 
nation, nor  reconciles  the  reader  to  the  event.  Henry  is  converted, 
but  we  know  not  how  or  why.  The  catastrophe  of  Don  Quixotte 
is  similar  to  this.  Both  Cervantes  and  Voltaire  seem  to  have  been 
in  a  haste  to  conclude  ;  and  this  is  all  the  apology  I  can  offer  for 
them. 


•      LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  87 

"  I  mention  not  Voltaire's  confusion  of  fabulous  and  real  per- 
sonages in  his  machinery  ;  this  has  been  remarked  by  others. 
But  I  cannot  help  observing,  that  his  invocation  to  the  historic 
muse  is  extremely  injudicious.  It  warns  the  reader  to  expect  no- 
thing but  truth,  and  consequently  every  appearance  of  fiction  in 
the  sequel  mvist  produce  a  bad  effect,  and  bear  the  mark  of  impro- 
bability, which  it  would  not  have  borne  if  our  author  had  been  con- 
tent to  follow  the  example  of  his  predecessors.  Virgil  pretends 
no  better  authority  than  tradition.  Sit  mihi  fas  audita  loqui ;  and 
Homer  throws  himself  entirely  upon  his  muse,  and  is  satisfied  in 
being  the  instrument  through  which  she  speaks.  The  dream  in 
the  seventh  canto  (which the  French  critics  think  superior  in  merit 
to  the  whole  Iliad)  disappointed  me  much,  though,  in  some  few 
passages,  it  is  not  amiss.  But  heaven  is  not  the  element  of  poets. 
St  Louis's  prayer,  in  the  last  canto,  is  an  odd  one.  He  treats  his 
Maker  very  cavalierly,  and  almost  threatens  him.  I  observed  in 
the  "  Henriade"  some  mixed  and  improper  metaphors,  but  did 
not  mark  them.  One,  however,  occurs — "  L'Eternel  a  ses  voeux 
"  se  laissa /zene^rer  "  On  the  whole,  I  am  very  much  of  Denina's 
mind  with  regard  to  this  poem. — "  Se  nell'  Enriade  non  si  trovano 
"  molti  passaggi  pieni  di  affetti,  ne  molte  orazioni  foili  e  gagli- 
"  arde,  e  che  esprimano  il  carattere  di  chi  parla,  ne  quella  uberta 
"  d'imagini  e  di  tratti  vivi  e  sorprendenti  d'immaginazione,  come 
"  in  Omero,  Virgilio,  Ariosto,  Tasso  e  Milton,  non  vi  son  neppure 
"  le  superfluita,  ne  le  stravaganze  che  in  alcuni  di  questi  si  notano  ; 
"  e  chicchessia  puo  con  gusto,  e  soddisfazione  leggere  I'Enriade 
"  senza  saziarsi  ;  vantaggio,  che  I'autore  dee  riconoscere  dalla 
"  vivacita  e  forza  del  suo  stile,  e  dall'  energia  de'  suoi  versi." 

"  Reserve  is  the  bane  of  friendly  intercourse,  the  screen  of 
error,  and  the  support  of  prejudice.  I  have,  therefore,  spoken  freely 
on  this  occasion,  because  I  would  willingly  embrace  every  oppor- 
tunity of  rectifying  my  errors,  and  putting  myself  in  the  way  of 
information.  If  you  approve  of  my  sentiments,  I  shall  believe  them 
right;  if  not,  I  shall  carefully  review  and  correct  them.  I  flatter 
myself  I  am  of  no  country,  but  a  citizen  of  the  world.  I  have  re- 
ceived much  entertainment  from  the  works  of  Voltaire  ;  but  I  do 
not  admire  him  much  in  his  critical  ca]>acity.  I  know  Mrs  Boyd 
will  support  me  in  this  ;  for  she  understands  and  admires  Shake- 
speare, who  seems  to  be  the  object  of  Voltaire's  envy  in  a  particular 
degree. 


88  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  The  following  lines  from  Tasso  have  often  been  quoted  as  an 
instance  of  the  unrivalled  harmony  of  the  Italian  language. 

"  Chiama  gli  abitator  dell'  ombre  eterne,"  &c. 

"  I  quote  these  lines,  that  I  may  have  an  opportunity  of  giving 
you  a  translation  of  them,  which  I  made  a  few  days  ago.  I  think 
I  am  as  obstreperous  as  my  original,  but  not  so  musical. 

••  Forthwith  to  summon  all  the  tribes  of  hell,"*  &c. 

"  Here  is  another  mor^eau,  written  lately  in  imitation  of  the  Ita- 
lian. I  attempted  this,  because  I  was  dissatisfied  with  the  com- 
mon translation  of  it,  which  is  given  by  the  person  who  adapted 
-"  Artaxerxes"  to  the  English  stage. 

"  L'onda  dal  mar  divisa 

"  Bagna  la  valle,  e  '1  monte, 

••  Va  passaggiera 

•'  In  fiume, 

•*  Va  prigioniera 

"  In  fonte  ; 

"  Mormora  sempre,  e  geme, 

"  Fin  che  non  torna  al  mar  : 

"  Almar,  dov'  ella  nacque, 

"  Dove  acquisto  gli  umori, 

"  Dove  da'  lunghi  en'ori 

"  Spera  di  riposar." 

Metastasio  Artaserse,  Att,  3.  Sc.  3 . 

*'  Waters,  from  the  ocean  borne, 

"  Bathe  the  valley  and  the  liill, 
"  Pi-ison'd  in  the  fountain  mourn, 

"  Warble  down  the  winding  rill; 
"  But,  wherever  doom'd  to  stray, 

•'  Still  they  murmur  and  complain, 
"  Still  piu-sue  their  lingering  way, 

*'  Till  they  join  their  native  main. 
"  After  many  a  year  of  woe, 

"  Many  a  long,  long  wandering  past, 
«'  Where,  at  first,  theylearn'd  to  flow, 

"  There  they  hope  to  rest  at  last. 

*  Both  the  original  and  the  translation  of  this  stanza  will  be  found  at 
p.  68,  69» 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  89 

"  I  confined  myself  to  the  measure  of  the  old  translation,  be- 
cmise  I  wanted  that  my  words  should  agree  with  the  music,  which, 
in  this  song,  is  very  good. 


"  The  following  letter  gives  a  very  interesting  account  of  Dr 
Beattie's  motives  for  writing  and  publishing  his  "  Essay  on 
"  Truth." 

LETTER  XXIX. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  9th  January,  1769. 

"  IT  was  very  kind  in  you  to  read  over  my  "  Essay  on  the 
"  Immutability  of  Moral  Sentiment,"  with  so  much  attention.  I 
wish  it  deserved  any  part  of  the  high  encomium  you  have  bestow- 
ed on  it.  I  flatter  myself  it  will  receive  considerable  improve- 
ments from  a  second  transcribing,  which  I  intend  to  begin  as  soon 
as  I  can.  Some  parts  of  it  will  be  enlarged,  and  others  (perhaps) 
shortened  :  the  examples  from  history,  and  authorities  from  an- 
cient authors,  will  be  more  numerous  ;  it  will  be  regularly  distri- 
buted into  chapters  and  sections,' and  the  language  will  be  corrected 
throughout.  The  first  part,  which  treats  of  the  permanency  of 
truth  in  general,  is  now  in  great  forwardness  ;  ninety  pages  in 
quarto  are  finished,  and  materials  provided  for  as  many  more. 
The  design  of  the  whole  you  will  guess  from  the  part  you  have 
seen.  It  is  to  overthi'ow  scepticism,  and  establish  conviction  in 
its  place  ;  a  conviction  not  in  the  least  favourable  to  bigotry  or  pre- 
judice, far  less  to  a  persecuting  spirit  ;  but  such  a  conviction  as 
produces  firmness  of  mind,  and  stability  of  principle,  in  a  consist- 
ence with  moderation,  candour,  and  liberal  inquiry.  If  I  understand 
my  own  design,  it  is  certainly  this  ;  whether  I  shall  accomplish 
this  design  or  not,  the  event  only  will  determine.  Meantime  I  go 
on  with  cheerfulness  in  this  intricate  and  fatiguing  study,  because 
I  would  fain  hope  that  it  may  do  some  good  j  harm  I  think  it  can- 
not possibly  do  any. 


90  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Perhaps  you  are  anxious  to  know  what  first  induced  me  to 
write  on  this  subject ;  I  will  tell  you  as  briefly  as  I  can.  In  mf 
younger  days  I  read  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  amusement,  and  I  found 
myself  best  amused  with  the  classics,  and  what  wc  call  the  btlles 
Icttres.  Metaphysics  I  disliked  ;  mathematics  pleased  me  better; 
but  I  found  my  mind  neither  improved  nor  gratified  by  that  study. 
When  Providence  allotted  me  my  present  station,  it  became  incum- 
bent on  me  to  read  what  had  been  written  on  the  subject  of  morals 
and  human  nature  :  the  works  of  Locke,  Berkeley,  and  Hume, 
were  celebrated  as  masterpieces  in  this  way  ;  to  them,  therefore,  I 
had  recourse.  But  as  I  began  to  study  them  with  great  prejudices 
in  their  favour,  you  will  readily  conceive  how  strangely  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  them,  as  I  thought,  replete  with  absurdities  :  I  pon- 
dered these  absurdities ;  I  weighed  the  arguments,  with  Avhich  I 
was  sometimes  not  a  little  confounded ;  and  the  result  was,  that  I 
began  at  last  to  suspect  my  own  understanding,  and  to  think  that 
I  had  not  capacity  for  such  a  study.  For  I  could  not  conceive  it 
possible  that  the  absurdities  of  these  authors  were  so  great  as  thej 
seemed  to  me  to  be ;  otherAvise,  thought  I,  the  world  would  never 
admire  them  so  much.  About  this  time  some  excellent  antiscep- 
tical  works  made  their  appeai'ance,  particularly  Reid's  "  Inquiry 
"  into  the  Human  Mind."  Then  it  was  that  I  began  to  have  a  little 
more  confidence  in  my  own  judgment,  when  I  found  it  confirmed 
by  those  of  whose  abilities  I  did  not  entertain  the  least  distrust.  I 
reviewed  my  authors  again,  with  a  very  different  temper  of  mind. 
A  very  little  truth  will  sometimes  enlighten  a  vast  extent  of  sci- 
ence. I  found  that  the  sceptical  philosophy  was  not  what  the 
world  imagined  it  to  be,  nor  what  I,  following  the  opinion  of  the 
world,  had  hitherto  imagined  it  to  ^e,  but  a  frivolous,  though  dan- 
gerous, system  of  verbal  subtilty,  which  it  required  neither  genius, 
nor  learning,  nor  taste,  nor  knowledge  of  mankind,  to  be  able  to 
put  together;  but  only  a  captious  temper,  an  irreligious  spirit,  a 
moderate  command  of  words,  and  an  extraordinary  degree  of  vanity 
and  presumption.  You  will  easily  perceive  that  I  am  speaking  of 
this  philosophy  only  in  its  most  extravagant  state,  that  is,  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  works  of  Mr  Hume.  The  more  I  study  it,  the  more 
am  I  confirmed  in  this  opinion.  But  while  I  applauded  and  ad- 
mired the  sagacity  of  those  who  had  led  me  into,  or  at  least  encou- 
raged me  to  proceed  in,  this  train  of  thinking,  I  was  not  altogether 


Lira  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  91 

satisfied  with  them  in  another  respect,  I  could  not  approve  that 
extraordinary  adulation  which  some  of  them  paid  to  their  arch- 
adversary.  I  could  not  conceive  the  propriety  of  paying  compli- 
ments to  a  man's  hearty  at  the  very  time  one  is  proving  that  his  aim 
is  to  subvert  the  principles  of  truth,  virtue,  and  religion  ;  nor  to 
his  understanding,  when  we  are  charging  him  with  publishing  the 
grossest  and  most  contemptible  nonsense.  I  thought  I  then  fore- 
saw, what  I  have  since  found  to  happen,  that  this  controversy 
would  be  looked  upon  rather  as  a  trial  of  skill  between  two  logi- 
cians, than  as  a  disquisition  in  which  the  best  interests  of  mankind 
were  concei'ned  ;  and  that  the  world,  especially  the  fashionable 
part  of  it,  would  still  be  disposed  to  pay  the  greatest  deference  to 
the  opinions  of  him.  who,  even  by  the  acknowledgment  of  his  an- 
tagonists, was  confessed  to  be  the  best  philosopher  and  the  soundest 
reasoner.  All  this  has  happened,  and  more.  Some,  to  my  cer- 
tain knowledge,  have  said,  that  Mr  Hume  and  his  adversaries  did 
really  act  in  concert,  in  order  mutually  to  promote  the  sale  of  one 
another's  works;  as  a  proof  of  which  they  mention  not  only  the 
extravagant  compliments  that  pass  between  them,  but  also  the  cir- 
cumstance of  Dr  R.*  and  Dr  C.f  sending  their  manuscripts  to  be 
perused  and  corrected  by  Mr  Hume  before  they  gave  them  to  the 
press.  I,  who  know  both  the  men,  am  very  sensible  of  the  gross 
falsehood  of  these  reports.  As  to  the  affair  of  the  manuscripts,  it 
was,  I  am  convinced,  candour  and  modesty  that  induced  them  to 
it.  But  the  world  knows  no  such  thing  ;  and,  therefore,  may  be 
excused  for  mistaking  the  meaning  of  actions  that  have  really  an 
equivocal  appearance.  I  know  likewise  that  they  are  sincere,  not 
only  in  the  detestation  they  express  for  Mr  Hume's  irreligious 
tenets,  but  also  in  the  compliments  they  have  paid  to  his  talents  ; 
for  they  both  look  upon  him  as  an  extraordinary  genius,  a  point  in 
which  I  cannot  agi'ee  with  them.  But  while  I  thus  vinditate  them 
from  imputations,  which  the  world  from  its  ignorance  of  circum- 
stances has  laid  to  their  charge,  I  cannot  approve  them  in  every 
thing ;  I  wish  they  had  carried  their  researches  a  little  farther,  and 
expressed  themselves  with  a  little  more  firmness  and  spirit.  For 
well  I  know,  that  their  works,  for  want  of  this,  Avill  never  produce 
that  effect  which  (if  all  mankind  were  cool  metaphysical  reasoners) 

*  Dr  Reid.  f  Dr  Campbell. 


92  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

might  be  expected  from  them.  There  is  another  thing  in  which 
my  judgment  differs  considerably  from  that  of  the  gentlemen  just 
mtntioned.  They  have  great  metaphysical  abilities ;  and  they 
love  the  metaphysical  sciences.  I  do  not.  I  am  convinced  that 
this  metaphysical  spirit  is  the  bane  of  true  learning,  true  taste,  and 
true  science ;  that  to  it  we  owe  all  this  modern  scepticism  and 
atheism ;  that  it  has  a  bad  effect  upon  the  human  faculties,  and 
tends  not  a  little  to  sour  the  temper,  to  subvert  good  principles, 
and  to  disqualify  men  for  the  business  of  life.  You  will  now  see 
wherein  my  views  differ  from  those  of  the  other  answerers  of  Mr 
Hume.  I  want  to  show  the  world,  that  the  sceptical  philosophy 
is  contradictory  to  itself,  and  destructive  of  genuine  philosophy,  as 
well  as  of  religion  and  virtue ;  that  it  is  in  its  OAvn  nature  so  paltry 
a  thing,  (howcA^gr  it  may  have  been  celebrated  by  some)  that  to  be 
despised  it  needs  only  to  be  known  ;  that  no  degree  of  genius  is 
necessary  to  qualify  a  man  for  making  a  figure  in  this  pretended 
science ;  but  rather  a  certain  minuteness  and  svispiciousness  of 
mind,  and  want  of  sensibility,  the  very  reverse  of  true  intellectual 
excellence  ;  that  metaphysics  cannot  possibly  do  any  good,  but 
may  do,  and  actually  have  done,  much  harm ;  that  sceptical  philo- 
sophers, whatever  they  may  pretend,  are  the  corrupters  of  science, 
the  pests  of  society,  and  the  enemies  of  mankind.  I  want  to  show, 
that  the  same  method  of  reasoning  which  these  people  have 
adopted  in  their  books,  if  transferred  into  common  life,  would  show 
them  to  be  destitute  of  common  sense  ;  that  true  philosophers  fol- 
low a  different  method  of  reasoning  ;  and  that,  without  following  a 
different  method,  no  truth  can  be  discovered.  1  want  to  lay  before 
the  public,  in  as  strong  a  light  as  possible,  the  following  dilemma  :. 
our  sceptics  either  believe  the  doctrines  they  publish,  or  they  do 
not  believe  them ;  if  they  believe  them,  they  are  fools — if  not,  they 
are  a  thousand  times  worse.  I  want  also  to  fortify  the  mind  against 
this  sceptical  poison,  and  to  propose  certain  criteria  of  moral  truth, 
by  which  some  of  the  most  dangerous  sceptical  errors  may  be  de- 
tected and  guarded  against. 

"  You  are  sensible,  that,  in  order  to  attain  these  ends,  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  me  to  use  great  plainness  of  speech.  My 
^expressions  must  not  be  so  tame  as  to  seem  to  imply  either  a  dif- 
fidence in  my  principles,  or  a  coldness  towards  the  cause  I  have 
undertaken  to  defend.     And  where  is  the  man  who  can  blame  me 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  93 

for  speaking  from,  the  heart,  and  therefore  speakmg  with  warmth, 
when  I  appear  in  the  cause  of  truth,  reUgion,  virtue,  and  mankind? 
I  am  sure,  my  dear  friend  Dr  Blacklock  will  not;  he,  who  has  set 
before  me  so  many  examples  of  this  laudable  ardour;  he,  whose 
style  I  should  be  proud  to  take  for  my  model,  if  I  were  not  aware 
of  the  difficulty,  I  may  say  the  insuperable  difficulty,  of  imitating  it 
with  success.  You  need  not  fear,  however,  that  I  expose  myself 
by  an  excess  of  passion  or  petulance.  I  hope  I  shall  be  animated, 
without  losing  my  temper,  and  keen,  Mdthout  injury  to  good  man- 
ners. In  a  word,  I  will  be  as  soft  and  delicate  as  the  subject  and 
my  conscience  will  allow.  One  gentleman,  a  friend  of  yours,*  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  treat  with  much  freedom.  I  have  heard  of 
his  virtues.  I  know  he  has  many  virtues  ;  God  forbid  1  should 
ever  seek  to  lessen  them,  or  wish  them  to  be  found  insincere ;  I 
hope  they  are  sincere,  and  that  they  will  increase  in  number  and 
merit  every  day.  To  his  virtues  I  shall  do  justice ;  but  I  must 
also  do  justice  to  his  faults,  at  least  to  those  faults  which  are  public, 
and  which,  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  of  mankind,  ought  not  to  be 
concealed  or  disguised.  Personal  reflections  will  be  cai'efully 
avoided  ;  1  hope  I  am  in  no  danger  of  failing  into  them,  for  I  bear 
no  personal  animosity  against  any  naan  whatsoever;  sometimes  I 
may  perhaps  be  keen ;  but  I  trust  I  shall  never  depart  from  the 
Christian  and  philosophic  character. 

"  A  scheme  like  this  of  mine  cannot  be  popular,  far  less  can  it 
be  lucrative.  It  will  raise  me  enemies,  it  wi!I  expose  me  to  the 
scrutiny  of  the  most  rigid  criticism,  it  will  make  me  be  considered 
by  many  as  a  sullen  and  illiberal  bigot.  I  trust,  however,  in  Provi- 
dence, and  in  the  goodness  of  my  cause,  that  my  attempts  in  be- 
half of  truth  shall  not  be  altogether  ineffectual,  and  that  my  labour's 
shall  be  attended  with  some  utility  to  my  fellow-creatures.    This, 


*  The  g-entleman  here  alluded  to  by  Dr  BeaUie,  as  a  fiiend  of  Dr  Black- 
lock's,  was  Mr  Hume,  who  had  patronised  Dr  Blacklock  at  an  earlv  period, 
and  done  him  several  acts  of  kindness,  whicli  Dr  Blacklock  never  failed  to 
acknowledge.  But  all  intercoiu-se  between  Mr  Hume  and  him  had  ceased 
(througli  no  fliult  on  tlie  part  of  Dr  Blacklock)  many  years  before  the  period 
here  spoken  of.  In  consequence  of  what  Dr  Beattie  says  here,  of  Mr  Hume's 
being  a  friend  of  Dr  Blacklock's,  I  find  among  Dr  Beattie's  papers  a  long 
letter  to  him  from  Dr  Blacklock,  giving  a  detail  of  the  whole  of  tlie  inter- 
course between  him  and  Mr  Hume,  from  its  commencement  to  its  close. 


94  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

in  my  estimation,  will  do  much  more  than  counterbalance  all  the 
inconveniences  I  have  any  reason  to  apprehend.  I  have  already 
fallen  on  evil  tongues  (as  Milton  says),  on  account  of  this  intended 
publication.  It  has  been  reported,  that  I  had  written  a  most  scur- 
rilous paper  against  Mr  Hume,  and  was  preparing  to  publish  it, 
when  a  friend  of  mine  interposed,  and,  with  very  great  difficulty, 
prevailed  on  me  to  suppress  it,  because  he  knew  it  would  hurt  or 
ruin  my  character.  Such  is  the  treatment  I  have  to  expect  from 
one  set  of  people.  I  was  so  provoked  when  I  first  heard  this  ca- 
lumny, that  I  deliberated  whether  I  should  not  thi'ow  my  papers 
into  the  fire,  with  a  Si  Jio/udus  vult  dedjn,  decifilatur:  but  I  rejected 
that  thought ;  for  so  many  persons  have  told  me,  that  it  was  my 
duty  to  publish  these  papers,  that  I  almost  begin  to  think  so  myself. 
Many  have  urged  me  to  publish  them ;  none  ever  dissuaded  me. 
The  gentleman,  named  in  the  report,  read  the  essay,  and  returned 
it  with  the  highest  commendations;  but  I  do  not  recollect  that  he 
ever  spoke  a  syllable  about  publishing  or  suppressing  it.  But  I 
have  certainly  tired  you  Avith  so  long  a  detail,  about  so  trifling  a 
matter  as  my  works.  However,  I  thought  it  necessary  to  say 
something  by  way  of  apology  for  them,  for  I  find  that  your  good 
opinion  is  of  too  much  consequence  to  my  peace,  to  suffer  me  to 
neglect  any  opportunity  of  cultivating  it. 

"  I  informed  you,  in  the  letter  which  I  sent  by  Mr  John  Ross, 
that  I  was  become  the  father  of  a  son.  Both  his  parents  and  he 
are  much  obliged  to  you  for  interesting  yourself  so  much  in  that 
event,  and  for  your  kind  wishes.  He  thrives  apace,  and  my  wife  is 
thoroughly  recovered.  You  ask  me,  what  are  my  feelings  ?  Per- 
haps I  shall  be  in  a  better  condition  to  answer  that  question  after- 
wards than  now.  He  is  always  near  me,  and  never  has  had  any 
illness  ;  and  you  know,  that  adversity  is  the  only  true  touchstone 
of  affection.  I  find  my  imagination  recoils  from  the  idea  of  such 
adversity  as  Avould  bring  my  affection  to  the  test.  To  tell  the  truth, 
I  am  at  no  great  pains  to  obtrude  that  idea  on  my  fancy  ;.  evils 
come  soon  enough,  we  need  not  anticipate  them.  At  present,  how- 
ever, I  feel  enough  to  convince  me  experimentally  of  what  I  have 
proved  from  the  principles  of  reason  in  my  essay,  that  this  s-«gy>)  is 
•something  entirely  different  from  that  affection  we  feel  towards  de- 
pendants, as  well  as  from  that  which  arises  from  a  habit  of  long  ac- 
quaintance. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  95 

"  I  long  much  to  see  your  translation  of  the  French  poem  ;* 
pray  send  it  as  soon  as  you  can.  You  need  not,  I  think,  be  under 
any  appi'ehensions  of  meeting  with  Mr  Home's  treatment.!  To 
translate  a  dramatic  poem  can  never  be  made  to  be  on  a  footing 
with  composing  one,  and  bringing  it  on  the  stage.  Even  Presby- 
terianism  itself  allows  us  to  read  plays  ;  and  if  so,  it  cannot  prohi- 
bit the  translating  of  them." 


In  the  following  letter,  Dr  Beattie  alludes  to  an  inscription, 
which  I  had  written  for  a  monument  I  was  about  to  erect  to  the 
memory  of  my  father,  and  which  I  wished  him  to  take  the  trouble 
of  correcting.  I  trust  no  one  will  object  to  me  this  piece  of  ego- 
tism, at  least,  in  honour  of  a  respected  parent,  to  v/hose  memory  I 
wished  Dr  Beattie  to  help  me  to  inscribe  some  better  memorial 
than  I  could  pretend  to  prepare  myself. 

The  inscription,  as  here  given,  has  since  been  engraved  on  a 
monument  of  white  marble,  erected  in  the  church  of  Kearn  in 
Aberdeenshire,  the  burial-place  of  Lord  Forbes's  family,  where 
my  father's  remains  were  deposited. 


LETTER  XXX. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  19tli  April,  1^69. 

*****  "  THE  Christian  religion,  according  to  my  creed,  is 
a  very  simple  thing,  intelligible  to  the  meanest  capacity,  and  what, 

*  The  Frencli  poem,  here  spoken  of,  was  a  translation  of  the  play  of 
"  Cenie,"  by  D'Happoncourt  de  Grafigny,  which  Dr  Blacklock  had  translat- 
ed, under  the  title  of  "  Seraphina  ;"  but  which  was  never  intended  to  be 
printed,  far  less  to  be  brought  on  the  stage.  In  a  letter  to  Dr  Beattie,  Di- 
Blacklock,  speaking  of  this  piece,  says  it  had  been  imitated,  rather  than 
translated,  by  Mr  Pliilip  Francis,  the  translator  of  Horace,  under  the  title 
of"  Eugenia,"  but  with  not  much  better  success  than  his  own. 

t  This  .ilhidcs  to  Mr  John  Home's  tragedy  of  "  Douglas." 


96  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

if  we  are  at  pains  to  join  practice  to  knowledge,  we  may  make  our- 
selves thoroughly  acquainted  with,  without  turning  over  nicUiy 
books.     It  is  the  distinguishing  excellence  of  this  religion,  that  it 
is  entirely  popular,  and  fitted,  both  in  its  doctrines  and  in  its  evi- 
dences, to  all  conditions  and  capacities  of  reasonable  creatures— 
a  character,  which  does  not  belong  to  any  other  religious  or  philo- 
sophical system,  that  ever  appeared  in  the  world.     I  wonder  to  see 
so  many  men,  eminent,  both  for  their  piety  and  for  their  capacity, 
labouring  to  make  a  mystery  of  this  divine  institution.      If  God 
vouchsafes  to  reveal  himself  to  mankind,  can  we  suppose,  that  he 
chooses  to  do  so  in  such  a  manner  as  that  none  but  the  learned  and 
contemplative  can  understand  him  ?     The  generality  of  mankind 
can  never,  in  any  possible  circumstances,  have  leisure  or  capacity 
for  learning,  or  profound  contemplation.     If,  therefore,  we  make 
Christianity  a  mystery,  we  exclude  the  greater  part  of  mankind 
from  the  knov/ledge  of  it ;  which  is  directly  contrary  to  the  inten- 
tion of  its  author,  as  is  plain  from  his  explicit  and  reiterated  de- 
clarations.    In  a  word,  I  am  perfectly  convinced,  that  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  scripture,  particularly  the  gospels,  is  all  that 
is  necessary  to  our  accomplishment  in  true  Chri'jtian  knowledge. 
I  have  looked  into  some  systems  of  theology  ;    but  I  never  read 
one  of  them  to  an  end,  because  I  found  I  could  never  reap  any  in- 
struction from  them.     To  darken  what  is  clear,  by  wrapping  it  up 
in  the  veil  of  system  and  science,  was  all  the  purpose  that  even  the 
best  of  them  seemed  to  mc  to  answer.     True  it  is,  tliere  are,  even 
in  the  gospels,  and  in  the  discourses  of  Jesus  Christ  himself,  some 
things  that  stand  in  need  of  illustration,  as  when  he  adopts  pr6ver- 
bial  phrases  peculiar  to  Judea,  or  alludes  to  the  customs  of  that 
country  and  those  times  ;  but  these  obscurities  arc  but  few  in  num- 
ber, and  generally  relate  to  matters  of  less  indispensible  utility ; 
and  I  presume,  a  very  moderate  share  of  erudition  is  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary to  make  us  understand  them,  as  far  as  they  were  intended 
to  be  understood  by  vis.     As  these,  I  am  convinced,  are  your  senti- 
ments, you  will  agree  with  me  in  thinking,  that  it  is  not  necessary 
for  us,  even  though  we  were  clergymen,  to  read  a  great  deal  of  di- 
vinity, as  it  is  called.      Indeed,  I  am  every  day  more  and  more  in- 
clined to  Dr   Gregory's  opinion  (whicli,  by  the  bye,  I  think  was 
Solomon's  too),  that  the  reading  of  many  books  of  any  sort  is  a  bad 
thing,  as  it  tends  to  withdraw  a  man's  attention  from  himself,  and 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  97 

from  those  amusements  and  contemplations,  which  at  once  sweet- 
en the  temper  and  cherish  the  health.  You  will  do  me  the  justice 
to  believe^ikthat,  by  the  word  amusements,  I  do  not  mean  drinking, 
or  gaming,  or  any  of  the  fashionable  modes  of  dissipation  :  I  mean 
'  the  study  of  the  works  of  nature,  and  some  of  the  best  perform- 
ances in  the  fine  arts,  which  I  have  always  found  the  most  pleas- 
ing, as  well  as  the  most  salutary  amusement,  both  to  my  mind  and 
body.  But  I  must  certainly  have  tired  you  with  this  long  disqui- 
sition. 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  account  of  Dr  Hawkes- 
worth.  I  want  much  to  see  his  translation  of  Telemachus  :  but 
no  copies  of  it  have  come  to  this  country.  The  former  translations 
were  all  very  indifferent.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  Doctor 
judged  right  in  not  making  his  translation  too  poetical  and  figura- 
tive. His  own  prose  style  is  as  much  ornamented  as  good  pilose 
can  well  be  ;  and  nearly  as  much  (if  I  mistake  not)  as  Cambray's 
style,  even  where  it  is  most  poetical.  The  measured  prose  (as  they 
call  it),  which  we  have  in  the  translations  from  Ossian,  would,  I  am 
afraid,  become  disgusting  in  a  work  so  long  as  Telemachus.  Be- 
sides, the  style  of  this  work  is  really  simple,  and  of  the  narrative  or 
epic  kind,  as  it  ought  to  be  ;  whereas,  the  poems  of  the  Highland 
bard  are  altogether  of  the  lyric  cast,  both  in  the  ornaments  of  the 
style,  and  in  the  arrangement  and  detail  of  the  fable.  I  wonder 
how  the  editor  of  these  poems  took  it  into  his  head  to  call  them 
epic.  They  are  wholly  lyric,  and  can  no  more  be  I'eferred  to  the 
class  of  epic  poems,  than  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost"  can  be  called 
an  ode. 

"  The  account  you  give  me  of  the  osconomy  of  Dr  Hawkes- 
worth's  family  pleases  me  much.*  I  am  entirely  of  your  mind  in 
regard  to  Protestant  nunneries  or  convents,  which  are  much  want- 
ed in  this  country,  and  which,  under  proper  regulations,  might,  as 
you  justly  observe,  be  productive  of  the  best  effects.  Our  reform- 
ers seem  to  have  wholly  forgot  the  old  maxim.  Fas  est  et  ab  hoste  do- 
ceri.  If  any  practice  was  in  use  among  the  Papists,  this  was  enough 
to  make  them  reject  it ;  and  it  was  almost  enough  to  recommend 
any  practice  to  them,  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  usage  of  their  ad- 
versaries.     I  wish,  however,  they  had  condescended  to  borrow  a 

*  See  Appendix,  [Q.] 
N 


98  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

little  church  music,  and  somewhat  of  more  decorum  and  solemnity 
in  their  public  worship,  even  from  the  Papists  ;  and  that  they  had 
provided  some  safe  and  creditable  asylum  for  ladies  of  small  for- 
tunes and  high  breeding,  although  this  had  been  done  in  imitation 
of  the  votaries  of  the  Romish  church.  It  seems  as  decent,  at  least, 
to  imitate  the  Roman  Catholics  as  the  Mahometans  ;  and  yet  we 
(Presbyterians)  seem  to  have  imitated  the  latter,  in  banishing  from 
our  churches  all  music,  at  least  all  good  music  ;  that  which  we 
have  retained  being  in  general  so  very  bad,  that  it  is  necessary  for 
a  person  to  have  a  bad  ear  before  he  can  relish  the  worship  of  the 
church  of  Scotland. 

"  I  much  approve  your  notion  of  epitaphs,  and  your  resolution 
of  erecting  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  your  father.  The  epi- 
taph, of  which  you  favoured  me  with  a  copy,  is  exceeding  good, 
and  stands  in  no  need  of  being  enlarged,  abridged,  or  altered.  In 
my  opinion,  it  is  just  what  it  ought  to  be.  However,  to  shew  my 
willingness  to  do  what  you  desire,  I  have  proposed  a  few  altera- 
tions, corrections  I  cannot  call  them,  for  I  have  doubts  about  their 
propriety.  I  therefore  propose  this  form  (which,  however,  I  hear- 
tily submit.) 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  99 

Here  are  dejiositedf  •. 

In  the  firm  hope  of  a  blessed  resurrection^ 

The  ashes  of 

Sir  William  Forbes,  Baro7iet,  yJdvocate, 

Of  the  family  of  Monymusk  ;* 

Who  lejt  this  transitory  ivorld 

On  the  \2th  of  May,  1743,  aged  36, 

Adorned  luith  many  virtues  ;  stained  with  no  crimes. 

JVith  the  shattered  remains  of  paternal  possessions. 

Once  ample  and  flourishing. 

He  supported  through  the  ivhole  of  life, 

Without  ostentation. 

But  with  dignity  and  spirit. 

That  rank  to  which  he  was  by  birth  entitled. 

In  his  death,  which  he  long  foresaw, 

He  displayed  equal  magnanimity  ; 

Enduring,  without  complaint,  the  attacks  of  a  paiiful  distemper. 

And  calmly  resigning  his  soul  to  him  who  gave  if. 

This  marble  is  erected 

By  his  only  surxnving  Son, 

Who, 

Though  deeply  affected  with  his  loss. 

Submits  to  the  Divine  wisdom. 

That  saw  proper  to  deprive  him  early  of  such  a  Parent,- 

Before  he  was  able  to  profit 

By  so  bright  a7i  example 

Of 

Christian  virtue. 

"  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be 

like  his." 

•  The  name  of  his  paternal  estate,  but  which  had  been  sold  by  his  grand- 
father many  years  ago. 


100  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  As  soon  as  you  determine  upon  the  form  of  the  epitaph,  you 
will  cause  it  to  be  printed  in  capitals,  and  give  one  of  the  printed 
copies  to  the  stone-cutter  to  work  after :  I  have  had  some  little 
experience  in  those  matters,  and  I  believe  there  is  no  other  way  to 
keep  the  workmen  from  blundering. 

"  I  have  read  both  "  Zingis"  and  the  "  Fatal  Discovery  :"  there 
are  good  things  in  both,  especially  in  the  last ;  but  I  do  not  greatly 
admire  either  the  one  or  the  other." 


Of  the  warmth  of  Dr  Beattie's  affection  for  his  friends,  I  cannot 
give  a  stronger  proof  than  by  transcribing  part  of  a  letter  written 
by  him  to  me,  on  occasion  of  the  fall  of  the  North  Bridge  in  Edin- 
burgh, when  a  gentleman  and  lady,  and  three  others,  were  unfor- 
tunately killed. 


LETTER  XXXL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM   FORBES. 

Perth,  Friday,  4th  August,  l!r69- 

"  I  WAS  in  great  anxiety  last  night  for  a  few  minutes  about 
you  and  Mr  Arbuthnot.  I  had  waited  for  you  half  an  hour,  and  then 
went  to  Mr  Arbuthnot's,  where  Mrs  Arbuthnot  told  me,  that  you 
and  he  had  gone  away  about  an  hour  before,  in  quest  of  me.  On 
my  arrival  at  Dr  Gregory's,  immediately  after,  I  heard  of  the  ter- 
rible accident  of  the  fall  of  the  bridge.  Your  house  in  the  new 
town,  and  some  other  ideas  which  then  occurred,  brought  you  two 
so  strongly  in  my  imagination,  that  I  should  soon  have  been  in  a 
most  anxious  situation,  had  not  a  messenger  luckily  arrived  from 
you,  bringing  Tasso's  "  Gierusalemme"  to  James  Gregory.  I 
shall  like  that  excellent  bard  the  better  as  long  as  I  live.  When  I 
got  home,  a  line  was  waiting  me  from  Mr  Arbuthnot,  of  Avhose 
safety  I  had  no  doubt  after  the  messenger  came  from  you  ;  and,  by 
one  lucky  accident  or  other,  I  learned,  before  I  went  to  bed,  that 
none  of  my  friends  or  acquaintance  were  concerned  in  that  sad 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  10 1 

event.  Yet,  alas,  the  persons  who  have  perished  had  friends  and 
acquaintance  of  more  sensibility  perhaps  than  I.  But  we  ought 
not  to  repine  at,  but  adore  Providence  in  all  its  dispensations,  what- 
ever be  their  appearance,  whether  good  or  bad.  Pray  let  me  hear, 
as  soon  as  you  can,  who  are  the  sufferers  in  this  calamity,  for  I  am 
greatly  concerned  about  it. 


IN  order  that  the  following  letter  may  be  understood,  it  may  be 
proper  to  mention,  that  Dr  Beattie,  having  now  finished  the  manu- 
script of  his  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  was  desirous  of  selling  it  to  a 
bookseller  for  publication,  not  with  any  view,  as  he  had  often  de- 
clared, of  obtaining  a  great  price,  but  in  order  that  he  might  avoid 
all  risk  to  himself,  and  that  the  publisher  might  feel  his  own  interest 
connected  with  the  sale  of  the  book,  which  otherwise,  he  feared, 
would  never  make  its  way  in  the  world.  Dr  Beattie,  therefore, 
committed  the  care  of  this  business  to  Mr  Arbuthnot  and  me,  with 
ample  authority  to  us,  to  dispose  of  the  manuscript  as  we  should 
judge  proper. 

On  our  applying,  however,  to  the  bookseller,  whom  we  thought 
most  likely  to  publish  it  with  advantage,  we  were  mortified  by  his 
positive  refusal  to  purchase  the  manuscript,  although  he  readily 
offered  to  publish  it  on  Dr  Beattie's  account,  a  mode  to  which  we 
knew  Dr  Beattie  would  never  agree.  Thus  there  was  some  danger 
of  a  work  being  lost,  the  publication  of  which,  we  flattered  ourselves 
would  do  much  good  in  the  world. 

In  this  dilemma  it  occurred  to  me,  that  we  might,  without  much 
artifice,  bring  the  business  to  an  easy  conclusion  by  our  own  inter- 
position. We  therefore  resolved,  that  we  ourselves  should  be  the 
purchasers,  at  a  sum  with  which  we  knew  Dr  Beattie  would  be  well 
satisfied,  as  the  price  of  the  first  edition.  But  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  the  business  should  be  glossed  over  as  much  as 
possible  ;  otherwise,  we  had  reason  to  fear  he  would  not  give  his 
consent  to  our  taking  on  us  a  risk,  which  he  himself  had  refused  to 
run. 

I  therefore  wrote  to  him  (nothing  surely  but  the  truth,  although, 
I  confess,  not  the  whole  truth),  that  the  manuscript  was  sold  for 
fifty  guineas,  which  I  remitted  to  him  by  a  bank-bill ;  and  I  added, 


102  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

that  we  had  stipulated  with  the  bookseller  who  was  to  print  the 
book,  that  we  should  be  partners  in  the  publication.  On  such 
trivial  causes  do  things  of  considerable  moment  often  depend.  For 
had  it  not  been  for  this  interference  of  ours  in  this  somewhat  am- 
biguous manner,  perhaps  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  on  which  all  Dr 
Beattie's  future  fortunes  hinged,  might  never  have  seen  the  light. 
It  also  strongly  marks  the  slender  opinion  entertained  by  the  book- 
sellers at  that  period,  of  the  value  of  a  work  which  has  since  risen 
into  such  well-merited  celebrity. 


LETTER  XXXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

26th  October,  1769. 

"  I  THIS  moment  received  yours  of  the  23d  current,  in- 
closing a  bank  post -bill  for  52/.  10s.  I  am  too  much  affected 
with  a  sense  of  your  and  Mr  Arbuthnot's  friendship  on  this,  as  on 
all  other  occasions,  to  say  any  thing  in  the  way  of  thanks  or  com- 
pliment. Like  a  man  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  I  am  become 
almost  careless  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  the  new  or  old  debt  I  owe 
to  your  goodness.  If  you  are  determined  to  persist  in  heaping 
favours  and  obligations  upon  me,  why,  be  it  so;  I  shall,  at  least,  in 
one  respect  be  even  with  you,  or  endeavour  to  be  so ;  I  shall  try  to 
be  as  grateful  as  you  are  kind.  As  this  book  had  cost  me  a  good 
deal  of  labour,  and  as  I  had  brought  myself  to  think  it  a  pretty 
good  book,  I  should  have  been  much  disappointed  if  I  had  not  got 
it  published;  and  I  do  firmly  believe,  that,  if  it  had  not  been, 
for  you,  it  never  would  have  been  published.  As  this  is  the  light 
in  which  I  consider  what  you  have  now  done  for  me,  you  will  rea- 
dily believe,  from  the  nature  of  that  attachment  which  all  authors 
bear  to  the  offspring  of  their  brain,  that  I  have  a  pretty  high  sense 
of  the  favour. 

"  The  price  does  really  exceed  my  warmest  expectations ;  nay, 
I  am  much  afraid  that  it  exceeds  the  real  commercial  value  of  the 
book,  and  I  am  not  much  surprised  that  — ■ — ■  refuses  to  have 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  103 

a  share  in  it,  considering;  that  he  is  one  of  the  principal  proprietors 
of  Mr  Hume's  works,  and,  in  consequence  of  that,  may  have  such 
a  personal  regard  for  him  as  would  prevent  his  being  concerned  in 
any  work  of  this  nature.  In  a  Avord,  I  am  highly  pleased  with  the 
whole  transaction,  except  in  this  one  respect,  that  you  and  Mr 
Arbuthnot  have  agi'eed  to  be  partners  in  this  publication.  This 
gives  me  real  concern.  I  know  you  both  despise  the  risk  of  losing 
any  thing  by  it,  and  will  despise  the  loss  when  you  come  to  know 
it,  of  which  I  am  afraid  there  is  too  great  a  chance ;  but  notwith- 
standing, I  could  have  wished  you  out  of  the  scrape;  and  if  it  shall 
afterwards  appear  that  you  are  losers,  I  shall  be  tempted  to  regret 
that  ever  I  gave  you  the  opportunity.  There  are  some  delicacies 
on  this  subject,  which  embarrass  me  so  much,  that  I  know  not  how 
to  express  myself  intelligibly.  In  a  word,  you  will  account  the 
loss  a  trifle ;  but  to  me  it  will  not  have  that  appearance. 

"  I  will  now  fall  to  work,  and  put  the  last  hand  to  my  manu- 
script. This  will  take  up  a  week  or  two,  as  several  things  have 
occurred  to  me  within  these  few  days,  which  I  think  will,  when 
added,  make  the  book  much  more  perfect.  I  will  venture  to  say, 
that  few  authors  have  ever  been  more  solicitous  than  I  on  this 
occasion,  to  make  their  work  correct.  It  has  undergone  a  most 
critical  examination  in  the  hands  of  my  two  friends.  Doctors 
Campbell  and  Gerard,  who  have  both  written  observations  on  it, 
and  who  are  perfect  masters  of  all  the  subjects  treated  in  it,  and 
really,  in  my  judgment,  the  most  acute  metaphysicians  of  the  age. 
Both  have  given  me  great  encouragement,  and  assured  me,  that, 
in  their  opinion,  my  book  will  do  good,  if  people  will  only  vouch- 
safe it  a  reading.  It  was  but  the  other  day  I  received  Dr  Gerard's 
remarks,  and  on  my  desiring  him,  honestly  and  impartially  to  give 
his  judgment,  "  I  think,"  says  he,  "  it  is  a  most  excellent  book, 
"  and  cannot  fail  to  do  you  credit  Avith  all  the  friends  of  virtue  and 
"  religion."  I  mention  this  only  to  show  you,  that  if  it  shall  after- 
wards appear  that  I  have  judged  wrong  in  thinking  this  book 
proper  to  be  printed,  I  am  not  singular  in  the  mistake.  One  thing 
I  was  particularly  careful  in  recommending  to  the  two  gentlemen 
just  mentioned :  I  desired  them,  above  every  thing,  to  observe 
whether  I  had  in  any  place  misrepresented  my  adversaries,  or 
mistaken  their  doctrine.     They  tell  me,  that,  in  their  judgment,  I 


104  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

have  not,  except  in  two  or  three  passages  of  no  consequence, 
which,  however,  I  have  carefully  corrected.  I  have  the  more 
confidence  in  their  judgment  in  this  particular,  because  they  are 
perfect  masters  of  the  modern  sceptical  philosophy,  and  are  parti- 
cularly well  acquainted  Avith  Mr  Hume's  writings,  indeed  better 
than  any  other  person  I  know,  except  Dr  Reid  at  Glasgow;  to 
whom,  however,  they  are  no  ways  inferior.  Much  of  my  know- 
ledge on  these  subjects  I  owe  to  their  conversation  and  writings, 
as  Dr  Gregory  very  well  knows.  Since  I  am  upon  this  subject,  I 
shall  tell  you  farther,  that  the  book,  now  under  consideration,  has 
been  my  principal  study  these  four  years ;  I  have  actually  written 
it  three  times  over,  and  some  parts  of  it  oftener.  I  have  availed 
myself,  all  I  could,  of  reading  and  conversation,  in  order  that  I 
might  be  aware  of  all  the  possible  objections  that  could  be  made 
to  my  doctrine.  Every  one  of  these,  that  has  come  to  my  know- 
ledge, has  been  canvassed  and  examined  to  the  bottom,  at  least 
according  to  the  examiner's  measure  of  understanding.  If  all  this, 
joined  to  my  natural  abhorrence  of  misrepresentation,  and  to  the 
sense  I  have  of  what  my  character  would  suffer  if  I  could  be 
charged  with  want  of  candour;  if  all  this,  I  say,  is  not  sufficient  to 
make  my  book  correct,  I  must  for  ever  despair  of  making  it  so." 


Of  the  warmth  of  affection  on  the  part  of  Ur  Beattie  towards 
his  friends,  there  is  another  striking  proof  in  the  following  letter 
to  Major  Mercer.  It  likewise  strongly  marks  the  playful  humour 
Avhich  he  sometimes  introduced  into  his  correspondence  with  those 
friends  whom  he  loved ;  with  whom  he  was  wont  to  joke  in  conver- 
sation, and  with  whom  he  felt  himself  perfectly  at  ease. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  iOS 

LETTER  XXXIIL 

i)R  BEATTIE  TO  CAPTAIN  (aFTERWARDS  MAJOr)  MERCER.* 

Aberdeen,  26th  November,  1769. 

"  I  SHALL  not  take  up  your  time  with  enlarging  on  all  the 
eauses  that  have  kept  me  so  long  from  writing.  I  shall  only  tell 
you,  that  while  the  summer  lasted,  I  went  about  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, and  imposed  on  myself  an  abstinence  from  reading,  writing, 
and  thinking,  with  a  view  to  shake  off  this  vile  vertigo,  which,  how- 
ever, still  sticks  by  me,  with  a  closeness  of  attachment  which  I 
could  well  excuse.  Since  that  time,  I  mean  since  the  end  of  sum-' 
mer,  I  have  delayed  writing,  till  I  should  be  able  to  inform  you  of 
the  fate  of  the  papers  you  were  so  good  last  winter  as  to  read  and 
interest  yourself  in.  They  are  sold  to  a  bookseller  in  Edinburgh, 
and  are  now  actually  in  the  press,  and  will  make  their  public  ap- 
pearance, if  I  mistake  not,  in  the  spring.  I  have  taken  no  little 
pains  to  finish  them ;  and  many  additions,  and  illustrations,  and 
corrections,  and  expunctions,  and  softenings,  and  hai'denings,  have 
been  made  on  them.  With  them  I  intend  to  bid  adieu  to  meta- 
physics, and  all  your  authors  of  profound  speculation ;  for,  of  all 
the  trades  to  which  that  multifarious  animal  man  can  turn  himself, 
I  am  now  disposed  to  look  upon  intense  study  as  the  idlest,  the 
most  unsatisfying,  and  the  most  unprofitable.  You  cannot  easily 
conceive  with  what  greediness  I  now  peruse  the  "  Arabian  Nights 
"  Entertainments,"  "  Gulliver's  Travels,"  "  Robinson  Crusoe," 
&c.  I  am  like  a  man  who  has  escaped  from  the  mines,  and  is  now 
drinking  in  the  fresh  air  and  light,  on  the  top  of  some  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Dalecarlia.  These  books  put  me  in  mind  of  the  days  of 
former  years,  the  romantic  sra  of  fifteen,  or  the  still  more  careless 
period  of  nine  or  ten,  the  scenes  of  which,  as  they  now  stand  pic- 
tured in  my  fancy,  seem  to  be  illuminated  with  a  sort  of  purple 
light,  formed  with  the  softest,  purest  gales,  and  painted  with  a  ver- 

*  For  some  account  of  Major  Mercer,  see  p.  20.  and  Appendix,  [R.] 

o 


106  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

dure  to  which  nothing  similar  is  to  be  found  in  the  degenerate 
summers  of  modern  times.  Here  I  would  quote  the  second  stanza 
of  Gray's  "  Ode  on  Eton  College,"  but  it  would  take  up  too  much 
room,  and  you  certainly  have  it  by  heart. 

"  I  hear  you  are  likely  to  be  a  major  in  the  army  soon.  I  need 
not  tell  you  on  how  many  accounts  I  wish  that  event  to  take  place. 
I  should  look  on  it  as  a  forerunner  of  your  return,  which  I  should 
certainly  rejoice  at,  even  with  an  excess  of  joy,  though  I  had  not  a 
single  particle  of  generosity  in  my  whole  co' .iposition,  my  own 
happiness  is  so  much  interested  in  it.  Alas!  my  walks  now  are 
quite  solitary.  No  more  do  the  banks  of  Dee  resound  to  those  con- 
fabulations, critical,  grammatical,  philosophical,  sentimental,  &c. 
which  whilom  were  agitated  between  us.  I  have  not  seen  a  man, 
since  you  left  us,  whose  notions  of  Homer  and  Achilles  were  the 
same  with  mine. 

"  I  was  a  fortnight  at  Edinburgh  this  summer,  where  I  saw  our 
friend  Sylvester*  almost  every  day.  You  would  be  surprised  to 
see  his  outward  man  so  little  changed.  His  voice  has  the  same 
tone  (only  with  a  little  addition  of  the  English  accent)  as  when  he 
went  away.  As  to  stature  and  embonfioint.,  he  is  much  the  same 
(I  fear  I  have  misapplied  that  word,  which  I  believe  is  never  used 
of  lean  people).  His  complexion  rather  fresher  and  fairer  than  be- 
fore. He  speaks  French,  Italian,  and  German  with  fluency,  and 
is  as  fond  of  poetry  as  ever.  He  never  drinks  above  two  or  three 
glasses  of  wine  at  a  sitting ;  and,  indeed,  seems  to  have  acquired  a 
great  many  good  qualities  by  his  travelling,  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  one  of  those  he  formerly  possessed. 

"  You  would  see  Mr  Gray's  installation  ode,  and,  if  so,  I  am 
sure  you  have  approved  it.  It  is  not  equal  to  some  other  of  his 
pieces,  but  it  is  the  best  ode  of  the  panegyrical  kind  I  have  ever 
seen.  I  had  a  letter  from  him  since  it  came  out,  in  which  he  says, 
"  That  it  cannot  last  above  a  single  day,  or,  if  its  existence  be  pro- 
"  longed  beyond  that  period,  it  must  be  by  means  of  newspaper 
"  parodies,  and  witless  criticism."  He  says,  he  considered  himself 
bound  in  gratitude  to  the  D.  of  Grafton  to  write  this  ode ;  and 
that  he  foresaw  the  abuse  that  would  be  thrown  on  him  for  it,  but 


*  Tlie  Rig-ht  Honourable  Sylvester  Douglas,  Lord  Gloibervie.     Vide 
Appendix,  [S.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  107 

did  not  think  it  worth  his  while  to  avoid  it.  I  am  not  of  his  mind 
in  regard  to  the  duration  of  the  poem.  I  am  much  mistaken  if  it 
do  not  carry  down  the  name  of  his  patron  to  the  latest  posterity ; 
an  honour  which,  I  fear,  no  other  great  man  of  this  age  will  have 
the  chance  to  receive  from  the  hands  of  the  muses." 


I  am  induced  to  print  the  following  letter  of  Dr  Beattie's,  in 
order  to  show,  that  he  was  aware,  before  the  publication  of  his 
"  Essay  on  Truth,"  how  much  he  was  supposed  to  have  employed 
too  great  a  degree  of  acrimony  in  the  original  composition  of  that 
essay  ;  and  how  far  he  himself  entertained  the  belief,  that  he  had 
removed  all  just  cause  of  any  such  complaint,  before  its  publication. 
It  proves,  too,  I  think,  very  clearly,  how  much  he  was  actuated  by 
principle  in  all  his  writings  ;  and  that,  in  thus  Warmly  expressinp- 
his  sentiments  on  the  subject,  he  was  merely  acting,  as  he  thought, 
ifi  the  discharge  of  his  duty. 


LETTER  XXXIV. 


DR  BEATTI^  TO  THE  EARL  OF  BUCHAN. 

Aberdeen,  27th  November,  1769. 

"  THE  concern  your  lordship  is  pleased  to  take  in  my  writ- 
ings does  me  a  great  deal  of  honour.  I  should  think  myself  very 
happy,  if,  by  means  of  them,  I  could  contribute  any  thing  to  the 
advancement  of  the  cause  of  truth  and  virtue. 

"  I  have  not  been  able,  since  you  left  us,  to  make  any  consider- 
able additions  to  the  "  Minstrel ;"  all  my  leisure  hours  being  em- 
ployed in  putting  the  last  hand  to  my  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  which 
was  actually  put  to  the  press  about  three  weeks  ago.  It  will,  I 
think,  make  its  public  appearance  in  the  spring.  Several  impor- 
tant alterations  and  additions  have  been  made.  Most  of  the  aspe- 
rities have  been  struck  out,  and  such  of  them  as  have  been  retained 
are  very  much  softened.  Still,  however,  there  are,  and  must  be, 
S9me  strong  pictures  and  expressions,  which  do  not  well  suit  the 


108  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

apathy  and  equivocating  lukewarmness  of  this  age.  But  my  ex- 
press design  was,  to  set  our  sceptics  in  a  new  light,  and  therefore  I 
found  it  necessary  to  pursue  a  new  method.  I  want  to  shew,  that 
their  reasonings  and  doctrines  are  not  only  false,  but  ridiculous  ; 
and  that  their  talents,  as  philosophers  and  logicians,  are  absolutely 
contemptible.  Your  lordship  will,  I  presume,  do  me  the  justice  to 
believe,  that  I  have  not  affected  to  treat  them  with  more  contempt 
than  I  think  they  deserve.  I  should  be  ashamed  of  myself,  if,  in 
pleading  the  cause  of  truth,  I  were  to  personate  a  character  that  is 
not  my  own.  The  doctrines  I  have  maintained  in  this  book  are, 
every  one  of  them,  according  to  my  real  sentiments.  I  have  added 
some  remarks  on  personal  identity  ;  on  the  veracity  of  our  senses 
in  regard  to  extension,  distance,  magnitude,  and  those  other  objects 
of  touch  which  are  commonly  referred,  both  to  that  sense,  and  to 
sight ;  on  the  different  classes  to  which  certain  truths  seem  reduci- 
ble ;  and  I  have  made  several  other  additions,  which,  I  hope,  will 
render  the  book  less  exceptionable  than  it  was  when  your  lordship 
did  me  the  honour  to  peruse  it. 

"  The  *  Minstrel'  I  intend  to  resume  next  summer.  It  will 
consist  of  three  books  ;  and,  as  it  promises  to  be  by  much  the  best, 
and  will  probably  be  the  last,  of  my  poetical  attempts,  I  propose  to 
finish  it'«t  great  leisure." 


The  Earl  of  Buchan,  being  desirous  of  exciting  an  attention  to 
classical  learning  at  Aberdeen,  established  a  prize  *  to  be  anually 
contended  for  among  the  young  men  educated  at  the  Marischal 
College  ;  the  subject  to  be  the  best  Greek  exercise.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  communication  of  this  design  to  Dr  Beattie,  Lord 
Buchan  received  from  him  the  following  letter,  by  order  of  the  uni- 
versity. 

•  A  silver  pen,  presented  by  Lord  Buchan  to  the  uniTersIty,  to  which  a 
piedallion  is  annually  appended,  with  the  name  of  the  successful  candidate. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  109 


LETTER  XXXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  EARL  OF  BUCHAN/ 

Aberdeen,  I5th  December,  1769. 

"  I  LAID  your  letter  before  a  full  meeting  of  our  univer- 
sity ;  and  have  their  orders  to  return  to  your  Lordship  their  most 
grateful  acknovv^ledgments  for  your  attention  to  the  interests  of 
learning  in  general,  and  your  generosity  to  this  society  in  particu- 
lar. We  accept,  with  the  most  unfeigned  sentinaents  of  gratitude, 
the  noble  present  you  have  done  us  the  honour  to  promise  us ; 
and  will  most  zealously  endeavour  to  promote,  to  the  utmost  of  our 
power,  those  good  purposes  your  Lordship  has  so  much  at  heart. 
We  beg  to  know  more  particularly,  in  what  way  it  will  be  proper 
for  us  to  propose  the  prize-subjects  ?  and  from  Avhat  sciences  the 
arguments  are  to  be  taken  ?  what  ranks  of  students  (whether  the 
lower  or  higher  classes,  or  all,  in  general)  are  to  be  admitted  as  can- 
didates ?  in  what  manner  their  performances  are  to  be  examined  ? 
and  whether  it  will  be  expedient  to  publish,  in  the  newspapers,  the 
names  of  such  as  shall  be  thought  to  have  obtained  the  prize  ?  In 
these,  and  in  all  other  particulars,  we  would  choose  to  be  directed 
by  your  Lordship's  judgment."* 


LETTER  XXXVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  4th  May,  17T0. 

"  NOTHING,  I  think,  is  stirring  in  the  literary  world.     All 
ranks  are  run  mad  with  politics  ;  and  I  know  not  whether  there  wa-s 

•  The  annual  competition  for  this  prize  still  continues  at  Aberdeen. 


no  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

any  period  at  which  it  was  more  unseasonable  to  publish  new 
books.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  nation  has  no  need  of  instruction  ; 
I  mean  only,  that  it  has  neither  leisure  nor  inclination  to  listen  to 
any. 

"  I  am  a  very  great  admirer  of  Armstrong's  poem  on  "  Health ;" 
and  therefore  as  soon  as  I  heard  that  the  same  author  had  published 
two  volumes  of  "  Miscellanies,"  I  sent  a  commission  for  them  with 
great  expectations ;  but  I  am  miserably  disappointed.  I  know  not 
what  is  the  matter  with  Armstrong  ;  but  he  seems  to  have  con- 
ceived a  rooted  aversion  at  the  whole  human  race,  except  a  few 
friends,  who,  it  seems,  are  dead.  He  sets  the  public  opinion  at  de- 
fiance ;  a  piece  of  boldness,  which  neither  Virgil  nor  Horace  were 
ever  so  shameless  as  to  acknowledge.  It  is  very  true,  that  living 
authors  are  often  hardly  dealt  with  by  their  contemporaries;  wit- 
ness Milton,  Collins  the  poet,  and  many  others  :  but  I  believe  it  is 
equally  true,  that  no  good  piece  was  ever  published,  which  did  not 
sooner  or  later  obtain  the  public  approbation.  How  is  it  possible 
it  should  be  otherwise  ?  People  read  for  amusement.  1  f  a  book  be 
capable  of  yielding  amusement,  it  will  naturally  be  read ;  for  no 
man  is  an  enemy  to  what  gives  him  pleasure.  Some  books,  indeed, 
being  calculated  for  the  intellects  of  a  few,  can  please  only  a  few ; 
yet  if  they  produce  this  effect,  they  answer  all  the  end  the  authors 
intended  ;  and  if  those  few  be  men  of  any  note,  which  is  generally 
'he  case,  the  herd  of  mankind  will  very  willingly  fall  in  with  their 
judgment,  and  consent  to  admire  what  they  do  not  understand.  I 
question  whether  there  are  now  in  Europe  two  thousand,  or  even 
one  thousand,  persons,  who  understand  a  word  of  Newton's  "  Prin- 
"  cipia  ;"  yet  there  are  in  Europe  many  millions  who  extol  Newton 
as  a  very  great  philosopher.  Those  are  but  a  small  number  who 
have  any  sense  of  the  beauties  of  Milton  ;  yet  every  body  admires 
Milton,  because  it  is  the  fashion.  Of  all  the  English  poets  of  this 
age,  Mr  Gray  is  most  admired,  and,  I  think,  with  justice  ;  yet 
there  are,  compai'atively  speaking,  but  a  few  who  know  any  thing 
of  his,  but  his  "  Church-yard  Elegy,"  which  is  by  no  means  the 
!)est  of  his  works.  I  do  not  think  that  Dr  Armstrong  has  any  cause 
to  complain  of  the  public  :  his  "  Art  of  Health"  is  not  indeed  a 
popular  poem,  but  it  is  very  much  liked,  and  has  often  been  printed. 
It  will  make  him  known  and  esteemed  by  posterity :  and  I  pre- 
sume he  will  be  the  more  esteemed,  if  all  his  other  works  perish 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  Ill 

with  him.  In  his  "  Sketches,"  indeed,  are  many  sensible,  and 
some  striking,  remarks ;  but  they  breathe  such  a  rancorous  and  con- 
temptuous spirit,  and  abound  so  much  in  odious  vulgarisms  and 
colloquial  execrations,  that  in  reading  we  are  as  often  disgusted  as 
pleased.  I  know  not  what  to  say  of  his  "  Universal  Almanack:" 
it  seems  to  me  an  attempt  at  humour ;  but  such  humour  is  either 
too  high  or  too  low  for  my  comprehension.  The  plan  of  his  tra- 
gedy, called  the  "  Forced  Marriage,"  is  both  obscure  and  impro- 
bable ;  yet  thei-e  are  good  strokes  in  it,  particularly  in  the  last 
scene. 

"  As  I  know  your  taste  and  talents  in  painting,  I  cannot  help 
communicating  to  you  an  observation,  which  I  lately  had  occasion, 
not  to  make,  for  I  had  made  it  before,  but  to  see  illustrated  in  a  very 
striking  manner.  I  was  reading  the  Abbe  du  Bos'  "  Reflections  on 
"  Poetry  and  Painting."  In  his  13th  section  of  the  first  volume,  he 
gives  some  very  ingenious  remarks  on  two  of  Raphael's  cartoons. 
Speaking  of  "  Christ's  charge  to  Peter,"  he  says  of  one  of  the 
figures  in  the  group  of  apostles,  "  Pres  de  lui  est  place  un  autre 
*'  Apotre  embarasse  de  sa  contenance ;  on  le  discerne  pour  etre 
"  d'un  temperament  melancholique  a  la  maigreur  de  son  visage 
''  livide,  a  sa  barbe  noire  et  plate,  a  1' habitude  de  son  corps,  enfin  a 
"  tous  les  traits  que  les  naturalistes  ont  assignes  a  ce  temperament. 
"  II  se  courbe ;  et  les  yeux  fixement  attaches  sur  J.  C.  il  est  devore 
"  d'une  jalousie  morne  pour  une  choix  dont  il  ne  se  plaindra  point, 
"  mais  dont  il  conservei-a  long  tems  un  vif  ressentiment ;  enfin  on 
"  reconnoit  la  Judas  aussi  distinctement  qu*  a  le  voir  pendu  au 
"  figuier,  une  bourse  renversee  au  col.  Je  n'  ai  point  prete  d'es- 
*'  prit  a  Raphael,"  &c.  You  see  the  ingenious  Abbe  is  very  posi- 
tive ;  and  yet  you  will  immediately  recollect,  that  the  charge  of 
"  Feed  my  sheep,"  to  which  this  cartoon  refers,  was  given  to  Peter 
after  the  resurrection,  and  when,  consequently,  Judas  could  not  be 
present  (John  xxi.  16.)  If  it  be  said,  that  this  charge  refers  to  the 
keys,  which  Peter  carries  in  his  bosom ;  a  charge  given  long  before : 
I  answer,  first,  that  the  shee}i  in  the  back-ground  is  a  presumption 
of  the  contrary ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  wounds  in  the  feet  and 
hands  of  Jesus,  and  the  number  of  apostles  present,  which  is  only 
eleven,  are  a  certain  proof,  that  the  fact  to  ivhich  this  cartoon  relates 
happened  after  the  resurrection.  The  Abbe's  mistake  is  of  little 
moment  in  itself;  but  it  serves  to  illustrate  this  observation,  that 


112  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE, 

the  expression  of  painting  is  at  the  best  very*  indefinite,  and  gene^ 
rally  leaves  scope  to  the  ingenious  critic  de  fir^ler  d'es/irit  to  the 
painter."* 


At  length,  in  the  month  of  May  1770,  Dr  Beattie's  "Essay  on 
"  the  nature  and  immutability  of  Truth,  in  opposition  to  Sophistry 
"  and  Scepticism,"  made  its  appearance.  As  the  manuscript  had 
been  seen  by  several  eminent  men  of  learning,  and  as  the  "  Essay 
*'  on  Truth"  was  known  to  be  written  as  a  direct  attack  on  the  phi- 
losophical principles  of  Mr  Hume,  its  publication  had  been  looked 
for  with  considerable  expectation.  The  boldness,  too,  of  a  writer 
so  little  known  to  the  world  as  Beattie  was  at  this  time  (for  he  had 
merely  published  a  few  juvenile  poems),  in  attacking  an  author  so 
formidable  as  Mr  Hume,  contributed  not  a  little  to  excite  the  pub- 
lic curiosity.  Mr  Hume  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  popularity.  After 
a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years  spent  in  literary  pursuits,  and 
after  having  acted  in  several  respectable  public  situations,!  to  which 
his  reputation  as  an  author  had  no  doubt  recommended  him,  he  had 
returned  to  Edinburgh,  opulent  from  a  pension  which  had  been 
bestowed  on  him  by  government,  but  still  more  by  the  fruits  of 
that  plan  of  rigid  economy,  which,  he  tells  us,  he  had  early  adopted* 
and  steadily  pursued,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  his  original  de- 
ficiency of  fortune,  and  rendering  himself  independent  in  theworld4 

•  I  have  lately  met  with  a  criticism  similar  to  the  above  of  Dr  Beattie's 
on  the  Abbe  du  Bos,  in  tlie  life  of  Raphael,  in  "  Pilkingtsn's  Dictionary  of 
"  the  Lives  of  the  Painters,"  p.  501.  A  coincidence,  however,  that  must 
have  been  entirely  accidental ;  and  which  no  way  detracts  from  the  origi- 
nality of  Dr  Be.ittie's  observation  :  for  I  am  satisfied,  he  had  never  read  Pilk- 
ington,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  sent  me  the  remark  as  being  his  own. 

t  Mr  Hume  attended  General  St  Clair,  in  the  year  1746,  as  secretary  to 
his  expedition  on  the  coast  of  France.  In  1747,  he  attended  tlie  general  in 
the  same  station  in  his  military  embassy  to  the  courts  of  Vienna  .ind  Turin. 
In  tlie  year  1763,  he  accompanied  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  as  secretary  on  his 
embassy  to  Paris,  where  he  was  left  chargi  d'affaires,  on  that  nobleman's 
going  as  lord  lieutenant  to  Ireland.  And  in  1767,  he  was  appointed  by  Lord 
Hertford's  brother.  General  Conway,  to  be  under-secretary  of  state,  while 
the  general  held  tlie  seals. 

\  Life  of  Mi;  Hume,  prefixed  to  his  works,  \mtten  by  himself,  p.  7. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  113 

Mr  Hume,  in  his  disposition,  wag  humane  and  charitable,  his  tem- 
per was  mild,  and  his  manners  pleasing,  which,  added  to  his  natu- 
ral abilities,  as  well  as  his  great  stock  of  acquired  knowledge,  made 
his  company  much  sought  after.  The  circle  of  society,  therefore, 
in  which  he  moved  at  Edinburgh,  was  not  only  extensive,  but  the 
most  distinguished  for  rank  and  fashion,  and  literary  merit,  of 
which  the  metropolis  of  Scotland  could  boast.  Of  all  this  I  am 
myself  a  living  witness ;  for  I  was  well  acquainted  with  Mr  Hume, 
with  whom  I  frequently  met  in  the  intercourse  of  social  life. 

Mr  Hume  had  deservedly  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  aft 
historian ;  and  he  may,  with  truth,  be  said  to  have  been  among  the 
first  to  introduce  into  this  country  that  dignified  and  classical  style 
of  comp6sition  with  which  we  are  so  much  delighted  in  his  "  His- 
"  tory  of  England,"  as  well  as  in  the  writings  of  Robertson,  Orme, 
and  other  eminent  authors  since  Mr  Hume's  time.  His  account 
of  the  British  constitution,  of  the  feudal  system,  and  his  affecting 
narratives  of  the  death  of  Charles  the  First,  of  Lord  Strafford,  of 
Archbishop  Laud,  as  well  as  other  passages  that  might  be  cited, 
are  proofs  of  a  masterly  genius,  which  must  place  Mr  Hume  in 
the  first  and  most  distinguished  rank  of  writers  of  history  in  the 
English  language.  He  had  published,  likewise,  essays  on  political 
economy,*  as  well  as  on  subjects  of  taste  and  literature ;  which, 
notwithstanding  the  revolutions,  both  in  opinions  and  things,  that 
an  interval  of  upwards  of  half  a  century  has  produced,  are  still  pe- 
rused with  pleasure  by  every  classical  scholar.  Happy  had  it  been, 
si  sic  omnia.  But  Mr  Hume  had  unfortunately,  at  an  early  period 
of  his  life,t  imbibed  the  principles  of  a  cold-hearted  and  gloomy 
philosophy,  the  direct  tendency  of  which  was  to  distract  the  mind 
with  doubts  on  subjects  the  most  serious  and  important,  and,  in 
fact,  to  undermine  the  best  interests,  and  dissolve  the  strongest 
lies,  of  human  society.     When  he  examined  Mr  Hume's  philoso- 

•  Dr  Adam  Smith,  in  his  valuable  work,  on  the  "  Causes  of  the  Wealth 
"  of  Nations,"  has  acknowledged,  that  Mr  Hume  was  the  first  writer  who 
rightly  understood,  and  properly  explained,  in  his  "  Essays,"  some  of  the 
principles  of  political  economy.     Vol.  ii.  p.  39,  119.  ed.  3. 

t  He  says,  in  the  advertisement  to  his  "  Essays,"  that  he  had  projected 
his  "  Treatise  on  Human  Nature"  before  he  left  college,  and  wrote  and  pub- 
lished it  not  loner  after. 


114  LIFE  Ot  DR  BEATTIE. 

phy,  and  contemplated  the  mischief  which  arose  from  it,  Dr  Beat- 
tie's  whole  faculties  rose  in  arms  within  him,  to  use  the  emphatic 
expression  of  an  anonymous  journalist,*  in  the  defence  of  the  cause 
of  truth,  and  of  every  virtuous  principle ;  and  he  resolved,  without 
fear,  to  attempt  to  show  the  fallacy  of  a  system,  which  he  conceived 
to  rest  on  no  solid  foundation.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  "  Essay 
"  on  Truth ;"  of  which,  besides  what  I  have  already  inserted  from 
his  private  correspondence  with  his  fiiends,  Dr  Beattie  gives,  him- 
self, the  following  account,  in  the  advertisement  to  the  edition  of 
the  "Essay"  published  in  quarto,  in  London,  in  the  year  1776, 


"  Ever  since  I  began  to  attend  to  matters  of  this  kind,  I  had 
heard  Mr  Hume's  philosophy  mentioned  as  a  system  very  un- 
friendly to  religion,  both  revealed  and  natural,  as  well  as  to  science ; 
and  its  author  spoken  of  as  a  teacher  of  sceptical  and  atheistical 
doctrines,  and  withal  as  a  most  acute  and  ingenious  writer.  1  had 
reason  to  believe,  that  his  arguments,  and  his  influence  as  a  great 
literary  character,  had  done  harm,  by  subverting  or  weakening  the 
good  principles  of  some,  and  countenancing  the  licentious  opinions 
of  others.  Being  honoured  with  the  care  of  a  part  of  the  British 
youth  ;  and  considering  it  as  my  indispensible  duty  (from  which, 
I  trust,  I  shall  never  deviate)  to  guard  their  minds  against  impiety 
and  error,  I  endeavoured,  among  other  studies  that  belonged  to  my 
office,  to  form  a  right  estimate  of  Mr  Hume's  philosophy,  so  as  not 
only  to  understand  his  peculiar  tenets,  but  also  to  perceive  their 
connection  and  consequences. 

"  In  forming  this  estimate,  I  thought  it  at  once  the  surest  and 
the  fairest  method  to  begin  with  the  "  Treatise  of  Human  Nature," 
which  was  allowed,  and  is  well  known  to  be,  the  ground-work  of 
the  whole ;  and  in  which  some  of  the  principles  and  reasonings  are 
more  fully  prosecuted,  and  their  connection  and  consequences  more 
clearly  seen  by  an  attentive  reader  (notwithstanding  some  inferiority 
in  point  of  style),  than  in  those  more  elegant  republications  of  the 
system,  that  have  appeared  in  the  form  of  "  Essays."    Every  sound 

•  Account  of  the  death  of  Dr  Beattie,  in  the  "  Orthodox  Churchman's. 
"  Magazine  and  Review,  for  August  1803,  No.  33.'' 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  Us 

argument  that  may  have  been  urged  against  the  paradoxes  of  the 
"  Treatise,"  particularly  against  its  first  principles,  does,  in  my 
opinion,  tend  to  discredit  the  system ;  as  every  successful  attempt 
to  weaken  the  foundation  of  a  building  does  in  effect  promote  the 
downfal  of  the  superstructure.  Paradoxes  there  are  in  the  "  Trea- 
"  tise"  which  are  not  in  the  "  Essays ;"  and,  in  like  manner,  there 
are  licentious  doctrines  in  these,  which  are  not  in  the  other ;  and 
therefore  I  have  not  directed  all  my  batteries  against  the  first. 
And  if  the  plan  I  had  in  view,  when  I  published  this  book,  had  been 
completed,  the  reader  would  have  seen,  that,  though  I  began  with 
the  "  Treatise  of  Human  Nature,"  it  was  never  my  intention  to 
end  with  it.  In  fact,  the  "  Essay  on  Truth"  is  only  one  part  of 
what  I  projected.  Another  part  was  then  in  so  great  forwardness, 
that  I  thought  its  publication  not  very  remote,  and  had  even  made 
proposals  to  a  bookseller  concerning  it;  though  afterwards,  on  en- 
larging the  plan,  I  found  I  had  not  taken  so  wide  a  view  of  the 
subject  as  would  be  necessary.  In  that  part,  my  meaning  was,  to 
have  applied  the  principles  of  this  book  to  the  illustration  of  cer- 
tain truths  of  morality  and  religion,  to  which  the  reasonings  of 
Helvetius,  of  Mr  Hume  in  his  "  Essays,"  and  of  some  other  modern 
philosophers,  seemed  unfavourable.  That  work,  however,  I  have 
been  obliged,  on  account  of  my  health,  to  lay  aside ;  and  whether 
I  shall  ever  be  in  a  condition  to  resume  it,  is  at  present  very  un- 
certain,"* 


In  the  prosecution  of  this  design,  Dr  Beattie  has  treated  his 
subject  in  the  following  manner:  He  first  endeavours  to  trace  the 
several  kinds  of  evidence  and  reasoning  up  to  their  first  principles ; 
with  a  view  to  ascertain  the  standard  of  truth,  and  explain  its  im- 
mutability. He  shows,  in  the  second  place,  that  his  sentiments  on 
this  head,  how  inconsistent  soever  with  the  genius  of  scepticism, 
and  with  the  principles  and  practice  of  sceptical  writers,  are  yet 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  genius  of  true  philosophy,  and  with 

*  His  want  of  health  prevented  him  from  prosecuting  his  original  de- 
sign of  writing  a  second  part  of  the  "  Essay  on  Trvith."  But  he  contrived 
to  introduce  into  some  of  liis  subsequent  publications  some  portion  of  what 
he  intended  the  second  part  should  contain. 


116  LIFE  OF  DR  BEA'FriE. 

the  practice  and  principles  of  those,  whom  all  acknowledge- to  have 
been  the  most  successful  in  the  investigation  of  truth ;  conclud- 
ing with  some  inferences,  or  rules  by  which  the  more  important 
fallacies  of  the  sceptical  philosophers  may  be  detected  by  every 
person  of  common  sense,  even  though  he  should  not  possess  acute- 
ness  of  metaphyiscal  knowledge  sufficient  to  qualify  him  for  a  lo- 
gical confutation  of  them.  In  the  third  place,  he  answers  some 
objections,  and  makes  some  remarks,  by  way  of  estimate  of  scepti- 
cism, and  sceptical  writers.* 

•  Essay  on  Trutli,  p.  15. 


SECTION  III. 


FROM  THE    PUBLICATION    OF    THE    "  ESSAY    ON   TRUTH,"    TO  THE 
DEATH  OF  DR  BEATTIE's  ELDEST  SON,  IN  THE  YEAR   1790. 


jN  O  sooner  did  the  "  Essay  on  Truth  make  its  appearance, 
than  it  was  assailed  by  the  admirers  of  Mr.  Hume  as  a  violent  and 
personal  attack  on  that  writer.  Of  this  Dr  Beattie  takes  notice  in 
the  following  letters. 

It  is  here  necessary  to  mention,  that,  upon  the  publication  of 
the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  it  was  thought  advisable,  that  a  shoi't  ana- 
lysis of  the  essay  should  be  inserted  in  the  Edinburgh  newspapers, 
in  order  that  something  might  be  known  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  subject  was  treated.  This  task  Dr  Blacklock  undertook,  and 
executed  with  much  ability.*  But  previous  to  its  publication,  he 
thought  it  proper  to  submit  what  he  had  written  to  Dr  Beattie^ 
who  replied  to  Dr  Blacklock  as  follows. 


LETTER  XXXVII. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  ELACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  27th  May,  1770. 

"  I  CANNOT  express  how  mucli  I  think  myself  indebted 
to  your  friendship,  in  entering  so  warmly  into  all  my  concerns, 
and  in  making  out  so  readily,  and  at  such  length,  the  two  critical 
articles.  The  shortest  one  was  sent  back,  in  course  of  post,  to  Mr 
Kincaid,t  from  whom  you  would  learn  the  reasons  that  induced  me 

*  Vide  Edinburg'h  Evcnincr  Couraiit,  3d  June,  17TQ. 
t  The  pub'.isljcr. 


118  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

to  make  some  alterations  in  the  analysis  you  had  there  made  of  my 
book.  The  other  paper  I  return  in  this  packet.  I  have  made  a  re- 
mark or  two  at  the  end,  but  no  alterations.  Indeed,  how  could  I  ? 
you  understand  my  philosophy  as  perfectly  as  I  do  ;  you  express 
it  much  better,  and  you  embellish  it  with  a  great  many  of  your 
own  sentiments,  which,  though  new  to  me,  are  exceedingly  apposite 
to  my  subject,  and  set  some  parts  of  it  in  a  fairer  light  than  I  have 
been  ajle  to  do  in  my  book.  I  need  not  tell  you,  how  happy  I  am 
in  the  thought,  that  this  work  of  mine  has  your  approbation ;  for  I 
know  you  too  well,  to  impute  to  mere  civility  the  many  handsome 
things  you  have  said  in  praise  of  it.  I  know  you  approve  it,  be- 
cause I  know  you  incapable  to  say  one  thing  and  think  another  ; 
and  I  do  assure  you,  I  would  not  forego  your  approbation  to  avoid 
the  censure  of  fifty  Mr  Humes.  What  do  I  say  ?  Mr  Hume's  cen- 
sure I  am  so  far  from  being  ashamed  of,  that  I  think  it  does  me 
honour.  It  is,  next  to  his  conversion,  (which  I  have  no  reason  to 
look  for)  the  most  desirable  thing  I  have  to  expect  from  that  quar- 
ter. I  have  heard,  from  very  good  authority,  that  he  speaks  of  me 
and  my  book  with  very  great  bitterness  (I  own,  I  thought  he  would 
rather  have  affected  to  treat  both  with  contempt)  ;  and  that  he  says, 
I  have  not  used  him  like  a  gentleman.  He  is  quite  right  to  set  the 
matter  upon  that  footing.  It  is  an  odious  charge  ;  it  is  an  objection 
easily  remembered,  and,  for  that  reason,  will  be  often  repeated,  by 
his  admirers  ;  and  it  has  this  farther  advantage,  that  being  (in  the 
present  case)  perfectly  unintelligible,  it  cannot  possibly  be  answer- 
ed. The  truth  is,  I,  as  a  rational,  moral,  and  immortal  being,  and 
something  of  a  philosopher,  treated  him  as  a  rational,  moral,  and 
immortal  being,  a  sceptic,  and  an  atheistical  writer.  My  desi^^n 
was,  not  to  make  a  book  full  of  fashionable  phrases,  and  polite  ex- 
pressions, but  to  undeceive  the  public  in  regard  to  the  merits  of  the 
sceptical  philosophy,  and  the  pretensions  of  its  abettors.  To  say, 
that  I  ought  not  to  have  done  this  with  plainness  and  spirit,  is  to  say, 
in  other  words,  that  I  ought  either  to  have  held  my  peace,  or  to  have 
been  a  knave.  In  this  case,  I  might  perhaps  have  treated  Mr  Hume 
as  a  gentleman,  but  I  should  not  have  treated  society,  and  my  own 
conscience,  as  became  a  man  and  a  Christian.  I  have  all  along 
foreseen,  and  still  foresee,  that  I  shall  have  many  reproaches,  and 
cavils,  and  sneers,  to  encounter  on  this  occasion ;  but  I  am  prepared 
to  meet  them.     I  am  not  ashamed  of  my  cause ;  and,  if  I  may  be- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  119 

lieve  those  whose  good  opinion  I  vakie  as  one  of  the  chief  blessings 
of  life,  I  need  not  be  ashamed  of  my  work.  You  are  certainly- 
right  in  your  conjecture,  that  it  will  not  have  a  quick  sale.  Not- 
withstanding all  my  endeavours  to  render  it  perspicuous  and  enter- 
taining, it  is  still  necessary  for  the  person  who  reads  it  to  think  a 
little;  a  task  to  which  every  reader  will  not  submit.  My  subject 
too  is  unpopular,  and  my  principles  such  as  a  man  of  the  world 
would  blush  to  acknowledge.  How  then  can  my  book  be  popular  1 
If  it  refund  the  expence  of  its  publication,  it  will  do  as  much  as  any 
person,  who  knows  the  present  state  of  the  literary  world,  can  rea- 
sonably expect  from  it. 

"  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  at  your  notions  in  regard  to  liberty 
and  necessity.  I  have  known  several  persons  of  the  best  under- 
standing, and  of  the  best  heart,  who  could  not  get  over  the  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  necessity,  even  though  their  notions  of  the  ab- 
surd and  dangerous  consequences  of  fatality  Avere  the  same  with 
mine.  The  truth  is,  I  see  no  possible  way  of  reconciling  the  fa- 
talists with  the  liberty-men,  except  by  supposing  human  liberty  to 
be  a  self-evident  fact,  which,  perhaps,  the  fatalists  will  never  ac- 
knowledge, and  which  the  staunch  Arminian,  who  has  been  long 
in  the  practice  of  arguing  the  matter,  would  think  a  dangerous  and 
unnecessary  supposition.  My  own  sentiments  of  this  point  I  have 
given  fairly  and  honestly  in  my  book.  That  I  am  a  free  agent,  is 
what  I  not  only  believe,  but  what  I  judge  to  be  of  such  importance, 
that  all  morality  must  be  founded  on  it,  yea,  and  all  religion  too. 
To  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to  man,  is  not  so  difficult  a  thing 
when  we  acknowledge  human  liberty  ;  but,  on  the  principles  of  fa- 
tality, it  seems  to  me  to  be  absolutely  impossible. 

"  I  beg  you  will,  from  time  to  time,  let  me  know  what  you  hear 
of  the  fate  of  my  book.  Every  author  thinks  that  his  works  ought 
to  engross  every  body's  attention.  I  am  not  such  a  novice  as  to 
have  more  of  this  vanity  than  my  neighbours  :  yet  I  think  it  highly 
probable,  that  my  book  will  be  the  subject  of  some  conversation, 
especially  about  Edinburgh,  where  Mr  Hume  is  so  well  known, 
and  where  I  happen  to  be  not  altogether  unknown.  By  the  bye,  it 
was  extremely  well  judged  not  to  mention  Mr  Hume's  name,  ex- 
cept very  slightly,  in  the  two  critical  articles  you  wrote.  People 
will  do  me  a  great  injustice,  if  they  say  or  think,  that  my  book  is 
written  solely  against  Mr  Hume.     Yet  many,  I  am  convinced,  will 


i20  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

say  so ;  and,  therefore,  it  was  proper  to  say  nothing  in  those  articles 
that  might  encourage  such  a  notion." 


LETTER  XXXVIII. 

DR  JOHN  GREGORY  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Edinburgh,  20th  June,  1770. 

"  MUCH  woe  has  your  essay  wrought  me.  The  hero  of  the 
piece  is  extremely  angry,  and  so  are  all  his  friends,  who  are 
numerous.  As  it  was  known,  that  the  manuscript  had  been  in  my 
hands,  I  was  taken  to  task  for  letting  it  go  to  the  press  as  it  stands. 
I  have  openly  avowed  every  where,  that  I  had  advised  you  to  pub- 
lish your  essay  ;  that  I  thought  the  reasoning  it  contained  both 
ingenious  and  solid ;  that  it  was  not  only  written  with  great  per- 
spicuity, but  Avith  a  spirit  and  elegance  very  uncommon  on  such 
subjects  ;  that  the  importance  of  the  subject  justified  sufficiently 
the  warmth  with  which  it  was  written ;  that  it  was  no  metaphysical 
disquisition  about  questions  of  curiosity,  but  a  defence  of  principles, 
on  which  the  peace  of  society,  the  virtue  of  individuals,  and  the 
happiness  of  every  one  who  had  either  feeling  or  imagination, 
depended.  I  wished,  at  the  same  time,  some  particular  expressions 
had  been  softened  ;  but  denied  there  being  any  personal  sabuse.  In 
one  place  you  say,  "  JVhat  does  the  man  mean  .?"  This,  you  know, 
is  very  contemptuous.  In  short,  the  spirit  and  warmth  with  which 
it  is  written,  has  got  it  more  friends  and  more  enemies  than  if  it 
had  been  written  with  that  polite  and  humble  deference  to  Mr 
Hume's  extraordinary  abilities,  which  his  friends  think  so  justly 
his  due.  For  my  own  part,  I  ain  so  warm,  not  to  say  angry,  about 
this  subject,  that  I  cannot  entirely  trust  my  own  judgment  ;  but  I 
really  thuik,  that  the  tone  of  superioi'ity  assumed  by  the  present 
race  of  infidels,  and  the  contemptuous  sneer  Avith  which  they 
regard  every  friend  of  religion,  contrasted  with  the  timid  behaviour 
of  such  as  should  support  its  cause,  acting  only  on  the  defensive, 
seems  to  me  to  have  a  very  unfavourable  influence.  It  seems  to 
imply  a  consciousness  of  truth  on  the  one  side,  and  a  secret  con- 
viction, or  at  Ie;jst  diffidence  of  the  cause  on  the  other.     What  a 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  121 

difference  from  the  days  of  Addison,  Arbuthnot,  Swift,  Pope,  Sec. 
who  treated  infidelity  with  a  scorn  and  indignation  we  are  now 
strangers  to.  I  am  now  persuaded  the  book  will  answer  beyond 
your  expectations,  I  have  recommended  it  strongly  to  my  friends 
in  England. 

"  I  am  positive  in  my  opinion,  that  you  should  publish  the  first 
part  of  the  "  Minstrel,"  without  waiting  for  the  rest." 


Mr  Hume  tells  us,  in  his  life,  written  by  himself,*  that  he  had 
formed  a  fixed  resolution,  which  he  inflexibly  maintained,  never  to 
answer  any  body.  But  from  what  he  has  been  heard  to  say  on  the 
subject  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose, 
that,  although  he  affected  to  treat  the  matter  in  a  vein  of  ironical 
pleasantry,  he  did  not  derive  that  consolation  from  Beattie's  work, 
which  he  pretends  to  have  derived  f  from  a  pamphlet  attributed  to 
Dr  Hurd,  the  present  bishop  of  Worcester,  against  his  "  History 
"  of  Natural  Religion."  This  pamphlet,  I  believe,  the  bishop 
afterwards  disclaimed. 

If,  however,  Dr  Beattie  found  himself  thus  attacked  by  one  set 
of  men,  he  derived  ample  consolation  from  the  popularity  of  his 
book,  and  the  encomiums  bestowed  upon  it  by  men  of  a  different 
character.  Some  passages  of  his  letters,  at  this  time,  strongly 
evince  this  success  of  his  essay,  which,  indeed,  far  exceeded  the 
most  sanguine  expectations,  either  of  himself  or  his  friends.  But 
no  testimony  in  his  favour  could  convey  to  him  such  high  gratifi- 
cation as  that  which  he  derived  from  the  following  letter  from  that 
accomplished  scholar  and  excellent  man,  the  first  Lord  Lyttelton, 
to  whom  Dr  Beattie  had  taken  the  liberty  of  presenting  a  copy  of 

*  Page  9. 

f  '« In  this  interval,"  says  Mr  Hume,  "  I  published  my  •  Natural  History 
"  *of  Religion,'  along  with  some  other  small  pieces.  Its  public  entry  was 
"  rather  obscure,  except  only  that  Dr  Hurd  wrote  a  pamphlet  against  it, 
**  with  all  the  illiberal  petulance,  ari'ogance,  and  scurrility,  which  distin- 
"  guished  the  Warburtonian  school.  This  pamphlet  gave  me  some  conso- 
"  lation  for  the  otherwise  indifferent  reception  of  my  performance." — P.  11. 


122  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

his  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  m  consequence  of  his  having  been  men- 
tioned to  Lord  Lyttelton  by  the  late  Dr  Gregory. 


LETTER  XXXIX. 


LORD  LYTTELTON*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Hill-Street  (London)  6th  October,  1770. 

"  THAT  the  author  of  such  a  work  as  that  you  have  done  me 
the  favour  to  send  me,  should  entertain  the  opinion  you  are  pleased 
to  express  of  me  and  my  writings,  is  an  honour  to  me,  of  which  I 
feel  the  high  value.     Never  did  I  read  any  book,  in  Avhich  truths 

*  George,  Lord  Lyttelton,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Tliomas  Lyttelton  of  Hagley, 
in  Worcestershire,  was  early  distinguished  by  his  learning,  his  taste,  and  his 
poetical  talents,  of  which  he  has  left  many  beautiful  specimens,  but  no  poem 
of  any  extent.  Among  other  pieces,  his  plaintive  Monody,  on  the  death  of 
the  first  Lady  Lyttelton,  is  familiar  to,  and  admired  by,  every  reader  of  taste. 
His  works  in  prose  are  numerous.  His  "  Persian  Letters,"  and  his  "  Dia- 
'*  logues  of  the  Dead,"  are  well  known.  But,  above  all,  his  valuable  "Dis- 
'•  sertation  on  the  Conversion  and  Apostleship  of  St  Paul,"  is  entitled  to  the 
highest  commendation,  as  a  masterly  and  convincing  argument  in  favour  of 
revealed  religion.  It  is  a  very  important  fact,  which  we  have  on  his  own 
authority,  that  he  was  originally  inclined  to  scepticism  in  religious  opinions  ; 
but,  by  the  effect  of  study  and  candid  reflection,  he  became  a  decided  and  a 
steady  believer  in  revelation  Lord  Lyttelton  also  published  an  elaborate 
historical  work  on  '*  The  Age  of  Henry  the  Second."  The  style  is  void  of 
ornament,  but  the  book  contains  much  valuable  information,  the  result  of 
diligent  research.  In  his  posthumous  works,  published  by  his  nephew,  are 
some  very  curious  letters  from  Lord  Lyttelton,  while  abroad,  to  his  fatlier, 
which  set  his  filial  piety  in  a  very  striking  point  of  light. 

Lord  Lyttelton  was  distinguished  as  a  speaker  in  parliament;  and,  as  a 
polite  scholar  and  ft  man  of  taste,  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  charac- 
ters of  his  time.  He  was  the  friend  of  Pope,  of  Thomson,  of  Shcnstone. 
And  the  letter  to  Dr  Seattle,  which  has  given  occasion  to  the  introduction  of 
this  slight  biographical  sketch  of  Lord  Lyttelton,  shows  how  strongly  that 
great  and  good  m.in  was  pleased  to  interest  himself  in  the  fortunes  of  oiu- 
author,  even  before  their  personal  acquaintance  took  place,  and  when  Dr 
Beattie  was  merely  known  to  his  lordship  by  his  writings,  and  the  testimony 
of  theii'  common  friend,  Dr  Gregory. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  123 

of  the  greatest  importance  to  mankind  are  more  skilfully  exti'icated 
from  the  mazes  of  sophism,  or  where  reason,  wit,  and  eloquence 
join  their  forces  more  happily,  in  opposition  to  errors  of  the  most 
pernicious  nature. 

"  It  has  often  given  me  great  pain  to  see  Bishop  Berkeley,  a 
most  pious  and  learned  man,  overturn  the  main  foundations  of  all 
religion  and  all  knowledge,  by  the  most  extravagant  scepticism 
concerning  the  real  existence  of  matter,  in  some  of  his  writings ; 
and  then  fancy,  that  in  others  he  could,  by  any  force  of  argument, 
establish  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  which  are  a  perpetual  appeal 
to  the  truth  of  our  senses,  and  grounded  on  a  supposition  that  they 
cannot  deceive  us  in  those  things  which  are  the  proper  and  natural 
objects  of  them,  within  their  due  limits.  Can  one  wonder  that  the 
sceptics  should  lay  hold  of  the  former  in  answer  to  the  latter?  And 
can  any  more  useful  service  be  done  to  Christianity,  than  to  shew 
the  fallacy  of  such  whimsies  as  would  make  the  body  of  Christ, 
which  his  disciples  saw  and  felt,  no  body  at  all  ?  and  the  proof  of 
his  resurrection,  from  that  testimony  of  their  senses,  a  mere  delu- 
sive idea  ? 

"  Berkeley  certainly  was  not  sensible  of  the  consequences  of 
these  doctrines,  no  more  than  Locke  of  those  you  reprehend  in  his 
essay ;  but  whatever  respect  may  be  due  to  the  persons  of  authors, 
their  writings  must  be  censured,  when  they  deserve  censure,  and 
especially  on  such  subjects.  This  the  friends  of  Mr  Hume  have 
no  more  right  to  complain  of,  than  those  of  Berkeley  or  Locke. 
Nor  can  the  censui-e  of  systems,  which  attempt  to  shake  the  great 
pillars  both  of  natural  and  revealed  religion,  be  delivered  by  a  be- 
liever, in  terms  as  cool  as  if  only  a  speculation  on  the  nature  of 
electricity,  or  the  causes  of  an  aurora  borealis  were  in  question. 
Mr  Hume,  as  a  man,  from  his  probity,  candour,  and  the  humanity 
of  his  manners,  deserves  esteem  and  respect;  but  the  more  autho- 
rity he  draws  from  his  personal  character,  or  from  the  merit  of  his 
other  books,  the  more  care  should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  ill  impres- 
sions which  his  sceptical  writings  may  make  on  a  number  of 
readers,  who,  having  been  used  to  admire  him,  and  trust  in  his 
judgment,  are  disposed  to  let  him  also  judge  for  them  in  these 
points,  v/here  the  being  misled  must  be  fatal. 

"  Go  on,  sir,  to  employ  your  excellent  talents  in  a  cause  worthy 
cf  them,  and  stop  the  progress  of  that  folly,  which,  assuming  the 


124  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

venerable  name  of  philosophy,  tends  to  deprive  human  nature  of 
the  salutary  light  of  its  best  and  clearest  knowledge,  and  throw  it 
into  a  dark  chaos  of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 

"  I  beg  you  to  present  my  affectionate  compliments  to  good  Dr 
Gregory,  whom  I  have  often  been  obliged  to  on  many  accounts, 
but  never  more  than  for  the  favour  of  procuring  me  your  friend- 
ship, which  I  shall  endeavour  to  cultivate  by  the  best  returns  in  my 
power." 


The  following  letter  to  Mrs  Inglis,*  at  Edinburgh,  is  ti-uly  Va- 
luable, as  it  contains  Dr  Beattie's  sentiments  on  the  important 
question,  which  has  been  so  much  agitated,  whether  a  public  or  a 
private  education  for  boys  is  to  be  preferred. 


LETTER  XL. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  INGLIS. 


Aberdeen,  24th  December,  1770. 

"  WHILE  I  lived  in  your  neighbourhood,  I  often  wished  for 
an  opportunity  of  giving  you  my  opinion  on  a  subject,  in  wliich  I 
know  you  are  very  deeply  interested ;  but  one  incident  or  other 
always  put  it  out  of  my  power.  That  subject  is  the  education  of 
your  son,  whom,  if  I  mistake  not,  it  is  now  high  time  to  send  to 
some  public  place  of  education,  I  have  thought  much  on  this 
subject;  I  have  weighed  every  argument,  that  I  could  think  of,  on 
either  side  of  the  question.  Much,  you  know,  has  been  written 
upon  it,  and  very  plausible  arguments  have  been  offered,  both  for 
and  against  a  public  education.     I  set  not  much  value  upon  these ; 

•  Dati.a^liter  of  Colonel  Gardiner,  by  Lady  Frances  Stuart,  daughter  f 
an  Earl  of  Buchan  He  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Prestonpans,  in  Scotland, 
in  September,  1745,  fighting-  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  of  dragoons. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  123 

speculating  men  are  continually  disputing,  and  the  world  is  seldom 
the  wiser.  I  have  some  little  experience  in  this  way ;  I  have  no 
hypothesis  to  mislead  me ;  and  the  opinion  or  prejudice  which  I 
first  formed  upon  the  subject,  was  directly  contrary  to  that,  which 
experience  has  now  taught  me  to  entertain. 

"  Could  mankind  lead  their  lives  in  that  solitude  which  is  so 
favourable  to  many  of  our  most  virtuous  affections,  I  should  be 
clearly  on  the  side  of  a  private  education.  But  most  of  us,  when 
we  go  out  into  the  world,  find  difficulties  in  our  way,  Avhich  good 
principles  and  innocence  alone  will  not  qualify  us  to  encounter ; 
we  must  have  some  address  and  knowledge  of  the  world  different 
from  what  is  to  be  learned  in  books,  or  we  shall  soon  be  puzzled, 
disheartened,  or  disgusted.  The  foundation  of  this  knowledge  is 
laid  in  the  intercourse  of  school-boys,  or  at  least  of  young  men  of 
the  same  age.  When  a  boy  is  always  under  the  direction  of  a  pa- 
rent or  tutor,  he  acquires  such  a  habit  of  looking  up  to  them  for 
advice,  that  he  never  learns  to  think  or  act  for  himself;  his  memo- 
ry is  exercised,  indeed,  in  retaining  their  advice,  but  his  invention 
is  suffered  to  languish,  till  at  last  it  becomes  totally  inactive.  He 
knows,  perhaps,  a  great  deal  of  history  or  science ;  but  he  knows 
not  how  to  conduct  himself  on  those  ever-changing  emergencies, 
which  are  too  minute  and  too  numerous  to  be  comprehended  in 
any  system  of  advice.  He  is  astonished  at  the  most  common  ap- 
pearances, and  discouraged  with  the  most  trifling  (because  unex- 
pected) obstacles  ;  and  he  is  often  at  his  wits  end,  where  a  boy  of 
much  less  knowledge,  but  more  experience,  would  instantly  devise 
a  thousand  expedients.  Conscious  of  his  own  superiority  in  some 
things,  he  wonders  to  find  himself  so  much  inferior  in  others ;  his 
vanity  meets  with  continual  rubs  and  disappointments,  and  disap- 
pointed vanity  is  very  apt  to  degenerate  into  sullenness  and  pride ; 
he  despises,  or  affects  to  despise,  his  fellows,  because,  though  supe- 
rior in  address,  they  are  inferior  in  knowledge;  and  they,  in  their 
turn,  despise  that  knowledge,  which  cannot  teach  the  owner  how 
to  behave  on  the  most  common  occasions.  Thus  he  keeps  at  a 
distance  from  his  equals,  and  they  at  a  distance  from  him ;  and 
mutual  contempt  is  the  natural  consequence. 

"  Another  inconvenience,  attending  private  education,  is  the 
suppressing  of  the  principle  of  emulation,  without  which  it  rarely 
happens  that  a  boy  prosecutes  his  studies  with  alaciitv  or  success. 


126  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

I  have  heard  private  tutors  complain,  that  they  were  obhged  to 
have  recourse  to  flattery  or  bribery  to  engage  the  attention  of  their 
pupil ;  and  I  need  not  observe,  how  improper  it  is  to  set  the  exam- 
ple of  such  practices  before  children.  True  emulation,  especially 
in  young  and  ingenuous  minds,  is  a  noble  principle ;  I  have  known 
the  happiest  effects  produced  by  it ;  I  never  knew  it  to  be  produc- 
tive of  any  vice.  In  all  public  schools  it  is,  or  ought  to  be,  care- 
fully cherished.  Where  it  is  wanting,  in  vain  shall  we  preach  up 
to  children  the  dignity  and  utility  of  knowledge :  the  true  appetite 
for  knowledge  is  wanting;  and  when  that  is  the  case,  whatever  is 
crammed  into  the  memory  will  rather  surfeit  and  enfeeble,  than 
improve  the  understanding.  I  do  not  mention  the  pleasure  which 
young  people  take  in  the  company  of  one  another,  and  what  a  pity 
it  is  to  deprive  them  of  it.  I  need  not  remark,  that  friendships  of 
the  utmost  stability  and  importance  have  often  been  founded  on 
school-acquaintance  ;  nor  need  I  put  you  in  mind,  of  what  vast 
consequence  to  health  are  the  exercises  and  amusements  which 
boys  contrive  for  themselves.  I  shall  only  observe  further,  that, 
when  boys  pursue  their  studies  at  honae,  they  are  apt  to  contract 
either  a  habit  of  idleness,  or  Loo  close  an  attachment  to  reading; 
the  former  breeds  innumerable  diseases,  both  in  the  body  and  soul ; 
the  latter,  by  filling  young  and  tender  minds  with  more  knowledge 
than  they  can  either  retain  or  arrange  properly,  is  apt  to  make 
them  superficial  and  inattentive,  or,  what  is  worse,  to  strain,  and 
consequently  impair,  the  faculties,  by  over-stretching  them.  I  have 
known  several  instances  of  both.  The  human  mind  is  more  im- 
proved by  thoroughly  understanding  one  science,  one  part  of  a  sci- 
ence, or  even  one  subject,  than  by  a  superficial  knowledge  of  twenty 
sciences  and  a  hundred  different  subjects :  and  1  would  rather  wish 
my  son  to  be  thoroughly  master  of  "  Euclid's  Elements,"  than  to 
have  the  whole  of"  Chambers'  Dictionary"  by  heart. 

"  The  great  inconvenience  of  public  education  arises  from  its 
being  dangerous  to  morals.  And  indeed  every  condition  and  pe- 
riod of  human  life  is  liable  to  temptation.  Nor  will  I  deny,  that 
our  innocence,  during  the  first  part  of  life,  is  much  more  secure  at 
home,  than  any  where  else  ;  yet  even  at  home,  when  we  reach  a 
certain  age,  it  is  not  perfectly  secure.  Let  young  men  be  kept  at 
the  greatest  distance  from  bad  company,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  keep 
them  from  bad  books,  to  which  in  these  days,  all  persons  may  have 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  127 

easy  access  at  all  times.     Let  us,  however,  suppose  the  best ;  that 
both  bad  books  and  bad  company  keep  away,  and  that  the  young 
man  never  leaves  his  parents'  or  tutor's  side,  till  his  mind  be  well 
furnished  with  good  principles,  and  himself  arrived  at  the  age  of 
reflection  and  caution :    yet  temptations  must  come  at  last ;  and 
when  they  com.e,  will  they  have  the  less  strength,  because  they  are 
new,  unexpected,  and  surprising  ?  I  fear  not.    The  more  the  young 
xnan  is  surprised,  the  more  apt  will  he  be  to  lose  his  presence  of 
mind,  and  consequently  the  less  capable  of  self-government.    Be- 
sides, if  his  passions  are  strong,  he  will  be  disposed  to  form  compa- 
risons between  his  past  state  of  restraint,  and  his  present  of  liberty, 
very  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  foi'mer.     His  new  associates 
will  laugh  at  him  for  his  reserve  and  preciseness  ;  and  his  unac- 
quaintance  with  their  manners,  and  with  the  world,  as  it  will  render 
him  the  more  obnoxious  to  their  I'idicule,  will  also  disqualify  him 
the  more,  both  for  supporting  it  with  dignity,  and  also  for  defend- 
ing himself  against  it.     Suppose  him  to  be  shocked  with  vice  at  its 
first  appearance,  and  often  to  call  to  mind  the  good  precepts  he  re- 
ceived in  his  early  days  ;  yet  when  he  sees  others  daily  adventuring 
upon  it  without  any  apparent  inconvenience  ;  when  he  sees  them 
more  gay  (to  appearance),  and  better  received  among  all  their 
acquaintance  than  he  is  ;  and  when  he  finds  himself  hooted  at,  and 
in  a  manner  avoided  and  despised,  on  account  of  his  singularity  ;  it 
is  a  wonder  indeed,  if  he  persist  in  his  first  resolutions,  and  do  not 
now  at  last  begin  to  think,  that  though  his  former  teachers  were 
well-meaning  people,  they  were  by  no  means  qualified  to  prescribe 
rules  for  his  conduct.     "  The  world  (he  will  say)  is  changed  since 
their  time  (and  you  will  not  easily  persuade  young  people  that  it 
changes  for  the  worse)  :  we  must  comply  with  the  fashion,  and  live 
like  other  folks,  otherwise  we  must  give  up  all  hopes  of  making  a 
figure  in  it."     And  when  he  has  got  thus  far,  and  begins  to  de- 
spise the  opinions  of  his  instructors,  and  to  be  dissatisfied  with  their 
conduct  in  regai'd  to  him,  I  need  not  add,  that  the  worst  conse- 
quences may  not  unreasor.^-.bly  be  apprehended.     A  young  man, 
kept  by  himself  at  home,  is  never  well  known,  even  by  his  parents ; 
because  he  is  never  placed  in  those  circumstances  which  alone  are 
able  effectually  to  rouse  and  interest  his  passions,  and  consequently 
to  make  his  character  appear.      His  parents,  therefore,  or  tutors, 
never  know  his  weak  side,  nor  what  particular  advices  or  cautions  he 


128  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

stands  most  in  need  of;  whereas,  if  he  had  attended  a  public  school, 
and  mingled  in  the  amusements  and  pursuits  of  his  equals,  his 
virtues  and  his  vices  would  have  been  disclosing  themselves  every 
day  ;  and  his  teachers  would  have  known  what  particular  precepts 
and  examples  it  was  most  expedient  to  inculcate  upon  him.  Com- 
pare those  who  have  had  a  public  education  with  those  who  have 
been  educated  at  home  ;  and  it  will  not  be  found,  in  fact,  that  the 
latter  are,  either  in  virtue  or  in  talents,  superior  to  the  former.  I 
speak.  Madam,  from  observation  of  fact,  as  well  as  from  attending 
to  the  nature  of  the  thing." 


So  rapid  was  the  sale  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  that  a  second 
edition  was  published  early  in  the  year  1771.  In  this  edition  he 
made  several  corrections  and  improvements;  and  he  subjoined  a 
postscript  (he  meant  it  at  first  for  a  preface),  the  rough  draft  of 
which  he  was  pleased  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  Dr  Gregory, 
Mr  Arbuthnot,  and  me.     He  mentions  this  in  the  following  letter. 


LETTER  XLL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  28th  January,  1771. 

"  IN  preparing  corrections  and  a  preface  for  the  second 
edition  of  my  essay,  I  have  laboured  so  hard  these  two  months,  that 
I  had  time  to  think  of  noti.ing  else.  The  former  were  finislied  three 
weeks  ago  ;  and  of  the  latter  I  have  sent  you,  with  this,  a  complete 
copy.  I  must  beg  of  you  and  Dr  Gregory,  and  Mr  Arbuthnot,  to 
set  apart  an  hour  or  two,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  revise  this  discourse, 
and  mark  what  you  would  wish  to  be  changed  or  altered  ;  tor  1  will 
be  entirely  determined  by  your  judgment  and  theirs  ;  and  1  do  not 
propose  to  consult,  on  the  pr,;scnt  occasion,  with  any  otUer  persons. 
I  beg  you  will  be  very  free  in  your  censures,  as  I  would  not  wish  to 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  129 

say  any  thing  exceptionable  ;  at  the  same  time,  you  will  see  by  the 
strain  of  the  whole,  that  I  want  to  express  some  things  as  clearly 
and  strongly  as  possible,  and  to  shew  tliat  my  zeal  is  not  in  the 
least  abated.     The  printing  of  the  second  edition  goes  briskly  on." 


His  three  friends,  to  whom  he  had  thus  committed  the  impor- 
tant trust  of  judging  of  the  style  and  execution  of  his  postscript, 
could  not  but  remark,  that  the  warmth  of  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
truth,  and  his  desire  to  vindicate  himself  from  some  attacks  which 
had  been  made  upon  him,  as  he  conceived  mostunjustly,had  led  him 
to  express  himself,  in  some  instances,  with  a  degree  of  aci'imony 
which  they  thought  had  better  be  corrected.  And  they  did  not 
scruple  to  state  to  him  their  sentiments  on  this  head,  with  tlie  free- 
dom which  friendship  permitted,  and  which  the  trust,  he  had  done 
them  the  honour  to  repose  in  them,  fully  demanded.  With  what 
candour,  with  what  kindness,  Dr  Beattie  received  their  observations 
on  this  intended  addition  to  his  essay,  will  appear  from  the  follow- 
ing letter. 


LETTER  XLII. 


DK  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  Esq. 

Aberdeen,  12th  February,  1771.    . 

"  IT  is  not  in  your  power,  my  dear  sir,  or  Sir  William 
Forbes's,  or  Dr  Gregory's,  to  offend  me  on  any  occasion.  Your 
remonstrances  on  the  present  occasion,  against  my  preface,  are  so 
far  from  offending  me,  that  I  consider  them  as  a  most  striking 
instance  of  the  sincerest  friendship  ;  and  as  such  I  should  receive 
from  them  a  great  deal  of  pleasure,  unmixed  with  any  pain,  if  it 
Mrere  not  for  the  trouble  and  uneasiness  which  I  know  you  must 
have  felt  on  my  account.  I  am  distressed,  too,  at  the  thought  of 
having  taken  up  so  much  of  your  time ;  Dr  Gregory,  in  particular, 

R 


130  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

has  too  much  cause  to  complain  of  me  in  this  respect.  As  I  wtU 
know  the  value  of  his  time,  you  will  readily  believe  that  I  cannot  be 
entirely  at  ease,  when  I  reflect  on  my  having  been  the  cause  of  his 
writing  a  letter  of  twelve  quarto  pages.  All  I  can  say  for  myself, 
is,  that  I  did  not  intend  to  give  my  friends  so  much  trouble  ;  for, 
though  I  sent  them  my  preface  as  I  first  wrote  it,  tvith  all  its  im- 
jierfections  on  its  head.,  and  though  I  knew  they  would  object  to 
several  passages  in  it,  I  never  expected  nor  wished  them  to  do  more 
than  just  to  miatk  the  exceptionable  parts  Avith  their  pen,  which 
would  have  fully  satisfied  me,  as  I  had  determined  to  follow  their 
advice  imjilicitly  in  every  thing. 

*'  I  hope  I  have,  in  my  introduction,  done  justice  to  Mr  Hume 
as  a  man,  and  as  a  historian  :  I  certainly  meant  it  at  least.  I  have 
finished  a  draught  of  a  new  preface  (postscript  I  shall  henceforth 
call  it)  ;  it  will  be  sent  to  Sir  William  Forbes  Avhen  finished.  You 
must  once  more  take  the  trouble  to  read  it  over ;  I  hope  you  Avill 
find  nothing  to  blame  in  it,  for  I  struck  out  or  altered  every  thing 
that  Dr  Gregory  marked  or  objected  to,  and  many  things  besides. 
But  lest  there  shovxld  still  be  any  thing  wrong,  I  will  invest  my 
friends  with  a  dictatorial  power  to  expunge  every  thing  they  do 
not  like." 


In  the  following  letter,  Dr  Gregory  has  placed  in  the  most 
proper  point  of  view,  the  accusation  brought  by  the  friends  of  Mr 
Hume  against  Dr  Beattie,  of  having,  in  his  "  Essay  on  Truth,'' 
treated  the  principles  of  the  sceptical  philosophy  with  too  much  as- 
perity. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  131 

LETTER  XLIII. 

DR    JOHN    GREGORY    TO    DR    BEATTIE. 

Edinburgh,  26th  November,  1771. 

"  I  HAVE  no  objection  to  your  marginal  note.*  But 
i  think  the  reason  of  the  warmth  with  which  you  write  should  be 
strongly  pointed  out,  and  as  concisely  as  possible.  It  has  been  said 
hei'e,  that  you  had  written  with  great  heat  and  asperity  against  Mr 
Hume,  because  you  differed  from  him  about  some  metaphysical 
subtleties,  of  no  material  consequence  to  mankind.  This  is  al- 
leged by  those  who  never  read  your  book,  and  seem  never  to  have 
read  Mr  Hume's.  You  write  with  warmth  against  him,  because 
he  has  endeavoured  to  invalidate  every  argument  brought  to  prove 
the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  ;  because  he  has  endeavoured  to 
invalidate  every  argument  in  favour  of  a  future  state  of  existence  ; 
and  because  he  has  endeavoured  to  destroy  the  distinction  between 
moral  good  and  evil.  You  do  not  treat  him  with  severity,  because 
he  is  a  bad  metaphysician,  but  because  he  has  expressly  applied  his 
metaphysics  to  the  above  unworthy  purposes.  If  he  has  not  been 
guilty  of  this  ;  if  these  are  only  conclusions,  which  you  yourself 
draw,  by  implication,  from  his  writings,  but  conclusions  which  he 
himself  disavows,  then  you  are  in  the  wrong  ;  you  ought  to  ask  par- 
don of  him,  and  of  the  public,  for  your  mistaken  zeal.  But  I  have 
never  heard  that  he,  or  any  of  his  friends,  have  pretended,  that  you 
do  him  injustice  in  these  respects.  After  all,  I  wish,  for  the  future, 
that  you  would  rather  employ  your  wit  and  humour,  of  which  you 
have  so  large  a  share,  against  these  people,  in  the  way  that  Addison, 
Pope,  Swift,  and  Arbuthnot  did.  It  would  mortify  them  beyond 
any  thing  that  can  be  said  against  them  in  the  way  of  reasoning." 


Very  soon  after  the  publication  of  the  second  edition  of  the 
•'  Essay  on  Truth,"   Dr  Beattie  published  the  first  canto  of  the 

*  What  tlie  note  here  alhiiled  to  was,  does  not  appear.     It  was  ])robably 
noma  marginal  note  on  the  MS.  of  iijs  postscript,  tlicn  under  consideration. 


1S2  LIFE  OT  DH  BEATTIE. 

"  Minstrel."  It  was  printed  without  his  name,  because,  as  he  said, 
it  was  an  imperfect  sketch,  being  only  a  first  part.* 

The  very  great  number  of  editions  through  which  this  beauti- 
ful poem  has  passed,  is  a  decisive  proof  of  its  merit.  It  is,  indeed, 
in  the  hands  of  every  reader  of  taste,  and  is  therefore  so  univer- 
sally known  and  admired,  that  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  any 
thing  farther  in  its  commendation.  The  author  tells  us,  in  an  ad- 
vertisement prefixed  to  the  first  canto,  that  he  took  the  idea  of  this 
poem  originally  from  Dr  Percy's  (the  bishop  of  Dromore's)  "  Essay 
"  on  the  English  Minstrelsy,"  prefixed  to  the  first  volume  of"  Re- 
*'  liques  of  ancient  English  Poetry,"  published  in  the  year  1 765.  His 
design,  he  says,  was  to  trace  the  progress  of  a  poetical  genius,  born 
in  a  rude  age,  from  the  first  dawning  of  fancy  and  reason,  till  that 
period  at  which  he  may  be  supposed  capable  of  appearing  in  the 
world  as  a  "  Minstrel,"  that  is,  as  an  itinerant  poet  and  musician — 
a  character  which,  according  to  the  notions  of  our  forefathers,  was 
not  only  respectable,  but  sacred. f 

He  has  endeavoured,  he  adds,  to  imitate  Spenser  in  the  measure 
of  his  verse,  and  in  the  harmony,  simplicity,  and  variety  of  his 
composition.  Antiquated  expressions  he  has  avoided  ;  admitting, 
however,  some  old  words,  where  they  seemed  to  suit  the  subject : 
but  none,  he  hopes,  will  be  found  that  are  now  obsolete,  or  in  any 
degree  not  intelligible  to  a  reader  of  English  poetry. 

To  those  who  may  be  disposed  to  ask,  what  could  induce  him 
to  v/rite  in  so  difficult  a  measure,  he  says,  he  can  only  answer,  that 
it  pleased  his  ear,  and  seemed,  from  its  Gothic  structure  and  origi- 
nal, to  bear  some  relation  to  the  subject  and  spirit  of  the  poem.  It 
admits  both  simplicity  and  magnificence  of  sound  and  language, 
beyond  any  other  stanza  that  he  was  acquainted  with.  It  allows  the 
sententiousness  of  the  couplet,  as  well  as  the  more  complex  modu- 
lation of  blank  verse.  What  some  critics  have  remarked  of  its  uni- 
formity growing  at  last  tiresome  to  the  ear,  will  be  found  to  hold 
true,  only  when  the  poetry  is  faulty  in  other  respects. :J 

•The  second  canto  was  published,  together  with  anew  edition  of  the  first, 
iri  the  year  1774,  and  with  the  addition  of  his  name. 

t  Preface  to  the  Minstrel,  ed.  1771. 
I  Preface  to  the  Minstrel,  ed.  1771. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTiE.  J33 

Of  all  Dr  Beattie's  poetical  works,  the  "  Minstrel"  is,  beyond 
all  question,  the  best,  whether  we  consider  the  plan  or  the  execu* 
tion.  The  language  is  extremely  elegant,  the  versification  harmo- 
nious ;  it  exhibits  the  richest  poetic  imagery,  with  a  delightful 
flow  of  the  most  sublime,  delicate,  and  pathetic  sentiment.  It 
breathes  the  spirit  of  the  purest  virtue,  the  soundest  piiiiosophy, 
and  the  most  exquisite  taste.  In  a  word,  it  is  at  once  highly  con- 
ceived and  admirably  finished. 

The  success  of  the  "  Minstrel"  was  equal  to  the  warmest  wishes 
of  the  author  and  his  friends.  It  was  received  well  by  the  public, 
and  it  met  with  much  and  just  commendation  from  some  of  the 
best  judges  of  poetical  composition  in  the  island.  Of  these,  the 
highest  praise  Dr  Beattie's  "  Minstrel"  ever  received,  was  from  the 
first  Lord  Lyttelton,  in  a  letter  from  that  excellent  man  and  elegant 
critic,  to  Mrs  Montagu,  who  had  put  the  "  Minstrel"  into  his  hands 
on  the  publication  of  the  first  canto. 


LETTER  XLIV. 


LORD  LYTTELTON  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Hill-Street,  8th  March,  17/1, 

"  I  READ  your  '  Minstrel'  last  night,  with  as  much  rapture 
as  poetry,  in  her  noblest,  sweetest  charms,  ever  raised  in  my  soul. 
It  seemed  to  me,  that  my  once  most  beloved  minstrel,  Thomson, 
was  come  down  from  heaven,  refined  by  the  converse  of  purer 
spirits  than  those  he  lived  with  here,  to  let  me  hear  him  sing  again 
the  beauties  of  nature,  and  the  finest  feelings  of  virtue,  not  with  hu- 
man, but  with  angelic  strains  !  I  beg  you  to  express  my  gratitude 
to  the  poet  for  the  pleasure  he  has  given  me.  Your  eloquence 
alone  can  do  justice  to  ray  sense  of  his  admirable  genius,  and  the 
excellent  use  he  makes  of  it.  Would  it  were  in  my  power  to  do 
him  any  service  !" 


The  letter  from  the  friend  to  whom  I  owe  the  communication 
of  this  valuable  manuscript  of  Lord  Lyttelton's,  contains  an  ob» 


134  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

servation  on  it  so  extremely  just,  that  I  cannot  resist  the  desire  of 
transcribing  it  here. 

"  I  am  very  happy,"  says  my  friend,*  "  to  be  able  to  send  Lord 
"  Lyttelton's  letter  on  the  subject  of  the  '  Minstrel.'  It  was  writ- 
"  ten  upon  his  first  perusal  of  the  first  canto,  and  to  a  person  to 
"  whom  his  heart  was  open.  It  is  very  seldom  that  the  world  can 
"  see  so  near  the  first  impression  of  a  work  of  genius  on  a  cultivated 
"  mind ;  and  I  do  not  know  any  thing  that  Lord  Lyttelton  has 
"  written,  that  so  strongly  marks  the  sensibility  and  purity  of  his 
"  taste.  The  allusion  to  Thomson  is  singularly  affecting,  and  con- 
"  stitutes  the  finest  praise  that  ever  was  bestowed  on  a  poet." 

This  letter  of  Lord  Lyttelton's,  Mrs  Montagu  transmitted  to 
the  late  Dr  Gregoi'y  ;  well  knowing  how  much  he  would  be  grati- 
fied by  such  emphatic  praise  of  his  friend  Dr  Beattie,  from  so  ex- 
quisite a  judge  of  poetic  merit  as  Lord  Lyttelton. 

Mrs  Montagu's  own  letter  contains  some  valuable  strictures  on 
poetical  composition  in  general,  which,  I  think  the  reader  will 
thank  me  for  inserting  here. 

LETTER  XLV. 

MHS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  JOHN  GREGORY. 

London,  13th  March,  \77l. 

"  I  KEEP  as  much  out  of  the  whirling  vortex  of  the  world  as 
I  can.  Sometimes  I  am  caught  up  for  a  day,  but  settle  into  tran- 
quillity the  next.  I  am  charmed  Avith  the  "  Minstrel,"  and  have 
circulated  its  fame.  I  have  enclosed  a  note,  by  which  you  will  see 
how  much  it  pleased  Lord  Lyttelton.  I  have  sent  one  into  the 
country  to  Lord  Chatham ;  and  I  wrote  immediately  to  a  person 
who  serves  many  gentlemen  and  ladies  with  new  books,  to  recom- 

*  The  Reverend  Mr  Alison,  Rector  of  Rodington,  and  Vicar  of  High 
Ei-cal,  and  Prebendary  of  Salisbury,  whose  elegant  and  classical  "  Essays 
««  on  the  Nature  and  Principles  of  Taste,"  give  us  cause  to  regi-et  that  he 
does  not  write  more.  I  have  had  the  happiness,  many  years,  of  the  intimate 
acquaintance  and  friendship  of  Mr  Alison. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  135 

mend  it  to  all  people  of  taste.  I  am  very  sorry  the  second  edition 
of  Dr  Beattie's  book  is  not  yet  in  town.  I  have  recommended  it, 
too,  to  many  of  our  Bishops,  and  others ;  but  all  have  complained 
this  whole  winter,  that  the  booksellers  deny  having  any  of  either 
the  first  or  second  edition.  I  wish  you  would  intimate  this  to  Dr 
Beattie.  I  dare  say  many  hundreds  would  have  been  sold  if 
people  could  have  got  them.  I  would  advise,  that  the  book  and 
poem  might  be  frequently  advertised.  I  recommended  the  poera 
this  morning  to  Dr  Percy,*  who  was  much  pleased  to  hear  that  Dr 
Beattie  had  so  kindly  mentioned  him-  I  admire  all  the  poet  tells 
us  of  the  infancy  of  the  bard  ;  but  I  should  not  have  been  so  well 
satisfied,  if  he  had  not  intended  to  give  us  the  history  of  his  life. 
General  reflections,  natural  sentiments,  representations  of  the  pas- 
sions, are  things  addressed  to  the  understanding.  A  poet  should 
aim  at  touching  the  heart.  Strong  sympathies  are  to  be  excited, 
and  deep  impressions  only  to  be  made,  by  interesting  us  for  an  in- 
dividual ;  and  the  poet,  who  is  a  maker,  as  well  as  a  tailor  is, 

For  real  Kate  should  make  the  boddice, 
And  not  for  an  ideal  goddess. 

I  am  sure  the  reason  why  few,  even  among  the  lovers  of  belles  let- 
tres,  can  bear  to  read  Spenser,  is,  that  they  cannot  sympathise  with 
imaginary  beings.  Our  esteem  of  Sir  Guyon,  our  love  of  Sir 
Calidore,  our  veneration  for  Arthur,  is  faint  and  uncertain.  We 
are  not  convinced  of  their  existence,  nor  acquainted  with  their 
general  characters  and  conditions ;  all  the  sympathies  with  crea- 
tures of  our  own  nature  and  condition  are  wanting.  I  assure  you, 
every  one  is  charmed  with  the  "  Minstrel." 

At  the  same  time,  and  of  the  same  date  with  this  excellent  letter 
of  Lord  Lyttelton's,  Dr  Beattie  received  one  fi'om  Mr  Gray,  with 
a  very  minute  and  copious  criticism  on  the  first  canto  of  the 
"  Minstrel,"  which  I  shall  insert  here.  I  have  also  in  my  posses- 
sion a  paper,  in  Dr  Beattie's  hand-writing,  containing  his  own  re- 
marks on  those  criticisms  of  Mr  Gray's.     It  is  curious,  as  well  as 

•  The  present  Lord  Bishop  of  Dromore,  editor  of  "  Reliques  of  ancient 
*'  Englisli  Poetry,"  which  first  sug'g'ested  to  Dr  Beattie  the  idea  of  tht 
"  Minstrel," 


136  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

instructive,  and  it  must  afford  pleasure  to  every  reader  of  classical 
taste,  to  compare  the  remarks  and  observations  of  two  poets  of 
such  real  genius,  on  this  beautiful  poem.  I  shall,  therefore,  give 
Mr  Gray's  letter  in  the  text,  and  shall  subjoin,  by  way  of  notes,  Dr 
Beattie's  remarks  on  Mr  Gray's  observations. 

LETTER  XLVI. 

MR  GRAY  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Cambridge,  8th  March,  1771. 

"  THE  '  Minstrel'  came  safe  to  my  hands,  and  I  return  you 
my  sincere  thanks  for  so  acceptable  a  present;  in  return  I  shall 
give  you  my  undisguised  opinion  of  him,  as  he  proceeds,  without 
considering  to  whom  he  owes  his  birth,  and  sometimes  without 
specifying  my  reasons ;  either  because  they  would  lead  me  too  far, 
or  because  I  may  not  always  know  what  they  are  myself. 

"  I  think  we  should  wholly  adopt  the  language  of  Spenser's 
time,  or  wholly  renounce  it.  You  say,  you  have  done  the  latter ; 
but,  in  effect,  you  retain  fared,  Jbr thy  meed,  wight,  iveen,  gaude,  she7ie, 
in  sooth,  aye,  eschew.  Sec.  obselete  words,  at  least  in  these  parts  of 
the  island,  and  only  known  to  those  that  read  our  ancient  authors, 
or  such  as  imitate  them.* 

"  St.  2.  v.  5.  The  obstrefierous  trump  of  fame  hurts  my  ear, 
though  meant  to  express  a  jarring  sound. 

"  St.  3,  V.  6.  jind  from  his  bending,  8cc.  the  grammar  seems 
deficient:  yet  as  the  mind  easily  fills  up  the  ellipsis,  perhaps  it  is 
an  atticism,  and  not  inelegant. 

"  St.  4.  and  ult.  Pensions,  posts,  and  praise.  I  cannot  reconcile 
myself  to  this,  nor  to  the  whole  following  stanza ;  especially  the 
plaister  of  thy  hair.\ 

•  To  fare,  i.  e.  to  go,  says  Dr  Beattie,  is  used  in  "  Pope's  Odyssey," 
and  so  is  meed,-  -wight  (in  a  serious  sense)  is  used  by  Mill  on  and  Drydcn 
Ween  is  used  by  Milton ;  gaude  by  Dryden ;  shene  by  Milton  ;  escheiu  by 
Atteibury  ;  aye  by  Milton.  The  poetical  style  in  every  nation  (where  there 
is  a  poetical  style)  abounds  in  old  words. 

f  I  did  not  intend  a  poem  uniformly  epical  and  solemn  ;  but  one  rather 
that  might  be  lyrical,  or  even  satirical,  upon  occasion. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  13r 

"  Surely  the  female  hearty  8cc.  St.  6.  The  thought  is  not  just. 
We  cannot  justify  the  sex  from  the  conduct  of  the  Muses,  who 
are  only  females  by  the  help  of  Greek  mythology ;  and  then,  again, 
how  should  they  bow  the  knee  in  the  fane  of  a  Hebrew  or  Philis- 
tine devil  ?  Besides,  I  am  the  more  severe,  because  it  serves  to  in- 
troduce what  I  nuost  admire.* 

"  St.  7.  Rise.,  sons  of  harmony^  Sec.  This  is  charming ;  the 
thought  and  the  expression.  I  will  not  be  so  hypercritical  as  to 
add,  but  it  is  lyrical.,  and  therefore  belongs  to  a  different  species  of 
poetry.  Rules  are  but  chains,  good  for  little,  except  when  one  can 
break  through  them ;  and  what  is  fine  gives  me  so  much  pleasure, 
that  I  never  regard  what  place  it  is  in. 
,  "  St.  8,  9,  10.  All  this  thought  is  well  and  freely  handled,  parti- 
cularly. Here  jieacejul  are  the  -vales.,  8cc.  Know  thine  cftvn  worth, 
&c.     Canst  thou  forego,  8cc. 

St.  11.  O,  how  ca?ist  thou  renounce,  See.  But  this,  of  all 
others,  is  my  favourite  stanza.  It  is  true  poetry ;  it  is  inspiration; 
only  (to  shew  it  is  mortal)  there  is  one  blemish ;  the  word  garniture 
suggesting  an  idea  of  dress,  and  what  is  worse,  of  French  dress.f 

"  St.  12.  Very  well.  Prompting  th'  ungenerous  wish,  &c. 
But  do  not  say  rainbling  muse ;  wandering,  or  devious,  if  you 
please.:! 

"  St.  13.  ji  nation  fam'd,  Sec.  I  like  this  compliment  to  your 
country ;  the  simplicity,  too,  of  the  following  narrative  :  only  in 
St.  17.  the  words  artless  and  simfile  are  too  synonymous  to  come  so 
near  each  other. 

"St.  18.  And  yet  jioor  Edwin,  h.c.  This  is  all  excellent,  and 
comes  very  near  the  level  of  st.  11.  in  my  esteem;  only,  perhaps. 
And  some  believed^  him  mad,  falls  a  little  too  flat,  and  rather  below 
simplicity. 

*  I  meant  here  an  ironical  argument.  Perhaps,  however,  the  irony  is 
wrong"  placed.  Mammon  has  now  come  to  signify  luealth  or  riches,  without 
any  regard  to  its  original  meaning. 

t  I  have  often  wished  to  alter  this  same  word,  but  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  hit  upon  a  better. 

\  Wandering  happens  to  be  in  the  last  line  of  the  next  stanza,  save  one, 
otherwise  it  would  certainlv  have  been  here. 


138  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  St.  21.  M^  no  I  By  the  way,  this  sort  of  interjection  is 
rather  too  frequent  with  you,  and  will  grow  characteristic,  if  you 
do  not  avoid  it. 

"  In  that  part  of  the  poem  which  you  sent  me  before,  you  have 
altered  several  little  particulars  much  for  the  better.* 

"  St.  34.  I  believe  I  took  notice  before  of  this  excess  of  alli- 
teration. J^ong,  loadedf  loud)  lament^  lotiely^  lighted,  lingering,  listen- 
ing ;  though  the  verses  are  otherwise  very  good,  it  looks  like 
aflPectation.f 

"  St.  36,  37,  38.  Sure  you  go  too  far  in  lengthening  a  stroke  of 
Edwin's  character  and  disposition  into  a  direct  narrative,  as  of  a 
fact.  In  the  mean  time,  the  poem  stands  still,  and  the  reader  grows 
impatient.  Do  you  not,  in  general,  indulge  a  little  too  much  in 
description  and  rejlcction?  This  is  not  my  remark  only,  I  have 
heard  it  observed  by  others ;  and  I  take  notice  of  it  here,  because 
these  are  among  the  stanzas  that  might  be  spared  ;  they  are  good, 
nevertheless,  and  might  be  laid  by,  and  employed  eiscAvhere  to 
advantage.! 

"  St.  42.  Spite  of  what  I  have  just  now  said,  this  digression 
pleases  me  so  well,  that  I  cannot  spare  it. 

"  St.  46,  v.  ult.  The  infuriate  flood.  I  would  not  make  new 
words  without  great  necessity  ;  it  is  very  hazardous  at  best."§ 

*  I  had  sent  Mr  Gray  from  st.  23.  to  st.  39.  by  way  of  specimen. 

t  It  does  so,  and  yet  it  is  not  affected.  I  have  endeavoured  once  and  again 
to  clear  this  passage  of  those  obnoxious  letters,  but  I  never  could  please 
myself.  Alliteration  has  gi-eat  autliorities  on  its  side,  but  I  would  never 
seek  for  it;  nay,  except  on  some  very  particular  occasions,  I  would  rather 
avoid  it.  When  Mr  Gray,  once  before,  told  me  of  my  propensity  to  allitera- 
tion, I  repeated  to  him  one  of  his  own  lines,  which  is  indeed  one  of  tlie  finest 
in  poetry — 

Nor  cast  one  longing  lingering  look  behind. 

\  This  remark  is  perfectly  just.  All  I  can  say  is,  that  I  meant,  from  tlie 
beginning  to  take  some  latitude  in  the  composition  of  this  poem,  and  not  con- 
fine myself  to  the  epical  rules  for  narrative.  In  an  epic  poem  these  digres- 
sions, and  reflections,  &c.  would  be  unpardonable. 

§  I  would  as  soon  make  new  coin,  as  knowingly  make  a  new  word,  ex- 
cept I  were  to  invent  any  art  or  science  where  they  would  be  necessary. 
Infuriate  is  used  by  Thomson — Summer,  1096.  and,  which  is  much  better 
authority,  by  Milton.     Par.  Lost,  b.  vi.  v.  487. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  139 

"  St.  49,  5C,  5 1,  52.  All  this  is  very  good  ;  but  7nediuin  and  ifi- 
congruousj  being  words  of  art,  lose  their  dignity  in  my  eyes,  and 
savour  too  much  of  prose.  I  would  have  read  the  last  line—'  Pre- 
'  sumptuous  cliiid  of  dust,  be  humble  and  be  wise.'  But,  on  second 
thoughts,  perhaps — -^  For  thou  art  but  of  dust'-~-h  better  and  more 
solemn,  from  its  simplicity. 

"  St.  53.  Where  dark,  &c.  You  return  again  to  the  charge. 
Had  you  not  said  enough  before?* 

"  St.  54.  JVbr  was  this  ancient  dame,  See.  Consider,  she  has 
not  been  mentioned  for  these  six  stanzas  backward. 

"  St.  56.  V.  5.  The  -vernal  day.  With  us  it  rarely  thunders  in 
the  spring,  but  in  the  summer  frequently. f 

"  St.  57,  58.  Very  pleasing,  and  has  much  the  rhythm  and  ex- 
pression of  Milton  in  his  youth.  The  last  four  lines  strike  me  less 
by  far. 

"  St.  59.  The  first  five  lines  chai'ming.  Might  not  the  mind 
of  your  conqueror  be  checked  and  softened  in  the  mid-career  of 
his  successes  by  some  domestic  misfortune  (introduced  by  way  of 
episode,  interesting  and  new,  but  not  too  long),  that  Edwin's  music 
and  its  ti'iumphs  may  be  a  little  prepared,  and  more  consistent  with 
probability  ?| 

"  I  am  happy  to  hear  of  your  successes  in  another  way,  because 
I  think  you  are  serving  the  cause  of  human  nature,  and  the  true  in- 
terests of  mankind.  Your  book  is  read  here  too,  and  with  just  ap- 
plause."§ 


It  is  also  a  matter  of  some  curiosity  to  compare  the  first  with 
the  second  edition  of  the  same  canto  of  the  "  Minstrel,^'  in  order  to 

*  What  I  said  before  referred  only  to  sophists  perverting  the  truth  ;  this 
alludes  to  the  method  by  which  they  pervert  it. 

t  It  sometimes  thunders  in  the  latter  part  of  spring.  Sultry  day  would 
be  an  improvement  perliaps. 

I  This  is  an  excellent  hint ;  it  refers  to  something  I  had  been  saying  in 
my  last  letter  to  Mr  Gray,  I'especting  the  plan  of  what  remains  of  the 
"  Minstrel." 

§  Mr  Gray  has  been  very  particular.  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  him  for 
the  freedom  of  his  remarks,  and  think  myself  as  much  so  for  his  objections 
as  for  his  commendations. 


140  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

see  where  Dr  Beattie  has  followed  Mr  Gray's  opinion,  and  where 
he  has  adhered  to  his  own.  In  order  to  save  the  reader  the  trouble 
of  making  this  comparison,  I  have  subjoined  it  in  the  Appendix.* 
"  The  Avant  of  incident  in  the  "  Minstrel"  has  often  been  re- 
gretted ;  and  all  that  can  be  said,  in  excuse  for  the  deficiency,  is, 
that  the  poem,  as  we  now  have  it,  is  unfinished.  On  my  once  ask- 
ing Dr  Beattie,  in  what  manner  he  had  intended  to  employ  his 
"  Minstrel,"  had  he  completed  his  original  design,  of  extending  the 
poem  to  a  third  canto,  he  said,  he  proposed  to  have  introduced  a 
foreign  enemy,  as  invading  his  country,  in  consequence  of  which 
the  "  Minstrel"  was  to  employ  himself  in  rousing  his  countrymen 
to  arms.f  It  is  easy  to  see  how  interesting  such  a  plan  must  have 
become  in  the  hands  of  such  a  poet  as  Dr  Beattie. 

In  the  first  edition,  this  poem  was  dedicated  to  a  male  friend, 
although  the  name  be  left  blank. :t  In  the  second  edition,  Mrs 
Montagu's  name  was  inserted  in  the  concluding  stanza. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that,  although,  in  deference  to  Mr 
Gray's  opinion,  Dr  Beattie  has  made  some  alterations  in  the  se- 
cond edition,  which  must  readily  be  allowed  to  be  extremely  judi- 
cious, yet  he  has  not,  I  think,  made  a  single  alteration  in  the  first 
canto,  except  where  suggested  by  Mr  Gray.  And  in  the  second 
canto  lie  has  changed  nothing,  except  mild  for  ivild  §  in  the  6th 
stanza,  and  inserting  the  34th,  which  was  not  in  the  first  edition  of 
that  canto. 

Mr  Gray  died  a  few  months  after  writing  this  letter,  conse- 
quently before  the  publication  of  the  second  canto,  which  may  be 
justly  matter  of  regret,  as  his  criticisms  might  have  improved  it, 
as  well  as  the  former. 

Those  who  read  the  "  Minstrel,"  on  its  first  appearance,  and 
were  acquainted,  either  personally,  or  by  report,  with  the  genius 
and  character  of  the  author,  wei'e  instantly  led  to  believe,  that,  in 
his  description  of  Edwin,  he  had  it  in  view  to  give  his  own  portrait. 
A  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  Dowager  Lady  Forbes,  in  answer  to 
one  from  her,  in  which  this  idea  had  been  suggested,  confirmed  the 

*  See  Appendix,  [T.] 

t  He  hints  at  this  plan,  in  a  letter  to  Dr  Blacklock,  p,  71. 
I  Our  common  friend,  Mr  Arbuthnot. 
§  Which,  probably,  had  been  merely  a  tj-pojjraphical  error. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  141 

opinion.  As  this  letter  contains  also  some  striking  sentiments  on 
poetical  composition,  it  must  be  very  interesting  to  every  reader  of 
taste. 


LETTER  XLVn. 


BR    REATTIE    TO    THE    RIGHT    HONOURABLE    THE   DOWAGER 
LADY  FORBES.* 

Aberdeen,  12th  October,  177,2. 

"  I  WISH  the  merit  of  the  '  Minstrel'  were  such  as  would 
justify  all  the  kind  things  you  have  said  of  it.  That  it  has  merit 
every  body  would  think  me  a  hypocrite  if  I  were  to  deny  ;  I  am 
willing  to  believe  that  it  has  even  considerable  merit;  and  I  acknow- 
ledge, with  much  gratitude,  that  it  has  obtained  from  the  public  a 
reception  far  more  favourable  than  I  expected.  There  are  in  it 
many  passages,  no  doubt,  which  I  admire  more  than  others  do ;  and 
perhaps  there  are  some  passages  which  others  are  more  struck 
with  than  I  am.  In  all  poetry  this,  1  believe,  is  the  case,  more  or 
less ;  but  it  is  much  more  the  case  in  poems  of  a  sentimental  cast, 
such  as  the  '  Minstrel'  is,  than  in  those  of  the  narrative  species. 
In  epic  and  dramatic  poesy  there  is  a  standard  acknowledged,  by 
which  we  may  estimate  the  merit  of  the  piece;  whether  the  narra- 
tive be  probable,  and  the  characters  well-drawn  and  well  preserved ; 
whether  all  the  events  be  conducive  to  the  catastrophe ;  whether  the 
action  is  unfolded  in  such  a  way  as  to  command  perpetual  attention, 
and  undiminished  curiosity — these  are  points  of  which,  in  reading 
an  epic  poem,  or  tragedy,  every  reader  possessed  of  good  sense,  or 
tolerable  knowledge  of  the  art,  may  hold  himself  to  be  a  compe- 
tent judge.  Common  life,  and  the  general  tenor  of  human  affairs, 
is  the  standard  to  which  these  points  may  be  referred,  and  accord- 
ing to  which  they  may  be  estimated.  But  of  sentimental  poetry 
(if  I  may  use  the  expression),  there  is  no  external  standard.  By 
it  the  heart  of  the  reader  must  be  touched  at  once,  or  it  cannot  be 
touched  at  all.  Here  the  knowledge  of  critical  rules,  and  a  general 
acquaintance  of  human  affairs,  will  not  form  a  true  critic;  sensi- 
bility, and  a  lively  imagination,  are  the  qualities  which  alone  con- 

♦  Mrs  Dorothea  Dale,  widow  of  the  Right  Hon.  William  Lord  Forbes. 


142  UFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

stitute  a  true  taste  for  sentimental  poetry.  Again,  your  ladyship 
must  have  observed,  that  some  sentiments  are  common  to  all  men ; 
others  peculiar  to  persons  of  a  certain  character.  Of  the  former 
sort  are  those  which  Gray  has  so  elegantly  expressed  in  his 
'  Church-yard  Elegy,'  a  poem  which  is  universally  understood  and 
admired,  not  only  for  its  poetical  beauties,  but  also,  and  perhaps 
chiefly,  for  its  expressing  sentiments  in  which  every  man  thinks 
himself  interested,  and  which,  at  certain  times,  are  familiar  to  all 
men.  Now  the  sentiments,  expressed  in  the  '  Minstrel,'  being 
not  common  to  all  men,  but  peculiar  to  persons  of  a  certain  cast, 
cannot  possibly  be  interesting,  because  the  generality  of  readers 
"will  not  understand  nor  feel  them  so  thoroughly  as  to  think  them 
natural.  That  a  boy  should  take  pleasure  in  darkness  or  a  storm, 
in  the  noise  of  thunder,  or  the  glare  of  lightning  ;  should  be  more 
gratified  with  listening  to  music  at  a  distance,  than  with  mixing  in 
the  merriment  occasioned  by  it ;  should  like  better  to  see  every 
bird  and  beast  happy  and  free,  than  to  exert  his  ingenuity  in  de- 
stroying or  ensnaring  them — >these,  and  such  like  sentiments, 
which,  I  think,  would  be  natural  to  persons  of  a  certain  cast,  will, 
I  know,  be  condemned  as  unnatural  by  others,  who  have  never  felt 
them  in  themselves,  nor  observed  them  in  the  generality  of  man- 
kind. Of  all  this  I  was  sufficiently  aware  before  I  published  the 
"  Minstrel,"  and,  therefore,  never  expected  that  it  would  be  a  popu- 
lar poem.*  Perhaps,  too,  the  structure  of  the  verse  (which,  though 
agreeable  to  some,  is  not  to  all)  and  the  scarcity  of  incidents,  may 
contribute  to  make  it  less  relished,  than  it  would  have  been,  if  the 
plan  had  been  different  in  these  particulars. 

"  from  the  questions  your  Ladyship  is  pleased  to  propose  in 
the  conclusion  of  your  letter,  as  well  as  from  some  things  I  have 
had  the  honour  to  hear  you  advance  in  conversation,  I  find  you  are 
willing  to  suppose,  that,  in  EdAvin,  I  have  given  only  a  picture  of 
myself,  as  I  was  in  my  younger  days.  I  confess  the  supposition  is 
not  groundless.  I  have  made  him  take  pleasure  in  the  scenes  in 
which  I  took  pleasure,  and  entertain  sentiments  similar  to  those,  of 
which,  even  in  my  early  youth,  I  had  repeated  experience.  The 
scenery  of  a  mountainous  country,  the  ocean,  the  sky,  thoughtful- 

•  It  Is  curious  to  remark,  how  much  Dr  Beattie  was  mistaken  in  this  re- 
spect, with  regard  to  the  "  Minstrel."  as  well  as  his  "  Essay  on  Truth."  See 
p.  93. 


LI"^E  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  143 

ness  and  retirement,  and  sometimes  melancholy  objects  and  ideas, 
had  charms  in  my  eyes,  even  when  I  was  a  school-boy  ;*  and  at  a  time 
when  I  was  so  far  from  being  able  to  express,  that  I  did  not  under- 
stand, my  own  feelings,  or  perceive  the  tendency  of  such  pursuits 
and  amusements  ;  and  as  to  poetry  and  music,  before  1  was  ten 
years  old,  I  could  play  a  little  on  the  violin,  and  was  as  much  master 
of  Homer  and  Virgil,  as  Pope's  and  Dryden's  translations  could 
make  me.  But  I  am  ashamed  to  write  so  much  on  a  subject  so 
trifling  as  myself,  and  my  own  works.  Believe  me,  madam,  no- 
thing but  your  Ladyship's  commands  could  have  induced  mc  to 
do  it." 


Dr  Beattie's  health  had  suffered  so  severely  from  the  intense 
application  of  thought,  which  he  had  bestowed  in  the  composing, 
revising,  and  correcting  his  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  that  exercise  and 
change  of  air  were  recommended  to  him  by  his  physicians.  As  he 
had  heard  much  of  the  favourable  reception  his  book  had  met  with 
in  England,  perhaps  he  was  not  displeased  with  having  an  oppor- 
tunity of  again  visiting  London,  not  as  on  the  former  occasion, 
when  he  was  nearly  unknown  there,  even  by  name  ;  but  now  that 
he  had  emerged  from  obscurity,  and  had  reason  to  hope  that 
the  reputation  he  had  acquired,  as  the  successful  champion  of  truth, 
and  the  decided  enemy  of  sophistry  and  scepticism,  would  procure 
for  him  the  notice  of  some  respectable  characters,  whose  acquaint- 
ance might,  at  some  future  period,  be  of  much  service  to  him. 

He  accordingly  went  to  London  in  the  beginning  of  autumn 
1771.  He  was  already  known  by  character  to  several  of  those  with 
whom  he  afterwards  became  personally  acquainted,  and  he  carried 
with  him  some  respectable  letters  of  introduction,  by  means  of 
which  he  was  received  in  the  most  favourable  manner.  Li  par- 
ticular, he  owed  to  the  late  Dr  Gregory  his  personal  acquaintance 
with  Mrs  Montagu,  who,  as  has  been  seen,  although  they  had  never 
met,  was  already  much  prepossessed  in  his  favour.  Mrs  Montagu 
not  only  honoured  him  with  her  friendship,  of  which  she  gave  him 
many  substantial  proofs,  and  continued  to  carry  on  an  epistolary 
correspondence  with  him  to  the  close  of  her  life  ;  but  at  her  liouse. 

*  See  p.  14. 


144  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

he  had  the  fortunate  opportunity  of  meeting  with,  and  becoming 
known  to,  some  of  the  most  eminent  characters  of  that  period.  It 
is  well  known,  that  Mrs  Montagu's  house  was,  at  that  time,  the 
chosen  resort  of  many  of  those,  of  both  sexes,  most  distinguished 
for  rank,  as  well  as  classical  taste  and  literary  talent  in  London.  *  In 

*  Mrs  Elizabeth  Robinson,  daughter  of Robinson,  Esq.  of 

Horton,  in  the  county  of  Kent,  and  wife  of  Edward  Montagu,  Esq.  of  Denlon- 
hall,  in  Northumberland,  and  Sandleford  Priory,  in  Berkshire.  Inheriting 
from  nature  a  genius  for  literature,  slie  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  with  an 
able  director  of  her  early  studies,  in  the  celebrated  Dr  Conyers  Middleton, 
who  was  married  to  her  grandmother,  with  whom  she  lived.  Under  his  tui- 
tion, she  acquired  that  learning,  and  formed  that  taste,  which  was  so  con- 
spicuous throughout  the  whole  of  her  subsequent  life.  Mrs  Montagu  had 
early  distinguished  herself  as  an  author,  first,  by  three  dialogues  of  the  dead, 
published  along  with  Lord  Lyttelton's ;  afterwards  by  her  classical  and  ele- 
gant "  Essay  on  the  Genius  and  Writings  of  Sh.ikespeare  ;"  in  which  she 
amply  vindicated  our  great  national  dramatist  from  the  gross,  illiberal,  and 
ignorant  abuse,  thrown  out  against  him  by  Voltaire.  The  elegance  of  her 
manners,  the  brilliancy  of  her  wit,  and  the  sprightliness  of  her  conversation, 
attracted  to  her  house  those  who  were  most  distinguished  by  their  learning, 
their  taste,  and  reputation  as  literary  characters.  This  society  of  eminent 
friends,  who  met  frequently  at  Mrs  Montagvi's,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  conver- 
sation, differed  in  no  respect  from  other  parties,  but  that  the  company  did  not 
play  at  cards.  It  consisted  originally  of  Mrs  Montagu,  Mrs  Vesey,  Mrs 
Boscawen,  and  Mrs  Cartel",  Lord  Lyttelton,  the  Earl  of  Bath,  (better  known 
as  Mr  Pulteney)  Horace  Walpole,  the  classical  owner  of  Strawbeny  Hill, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Orford,  and  Mr  Stillingfleet.  The  society  came  at  last 
to  contain  a  numerous  assemblage  of  those  most  eminent  for  literature  in 
London,  or  who  visited  it.  Of  these  distinguished  friends,  Mrs  Vesey,  though 
less  known  than  Mrs  Montagu,  was  also  another  centre  of  pleasing  and  ra- 
tional society.  Without  attempting  to  shine  herself,  she  had  the  happy  secret 
of  bringing  forward  talents  of  every  kind,  and  of  diffusing  over  the  society, 
the  gentleness  of  her  own  character.  She  was  the  daughter  of  an  Irish 
bishop,  and  wife  of  Agmondesham  Vesey,  Esq.  a  gentleman  of  Ireland,  who, 
in  his  earlier  years,  had  been  the  friend  of  Swift.  Mrs  Boscawen  was  the 
widow  of  the  gallant  admiral  of  tliat  name,  a  woman  of  great  talents,  and, 
though  unknown  to  the  literary  world,  acceptable  to  every  society,  by  the 
strength  of  her  understanding,  the  poignancy  of  her  humour,  and  the  bril- 
liancy of  her  wit.  She  died  in  the  spring  of  1805,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
pjghty-slx.  Mrs  Carter,  the  learned  translator  of  Epictetus,  and  the  author 
of  a  volume  of  poems  of  very  considerable  mei-it,  Is  now  the  only  original 
surviving  member,  at  the  age  of  nearly  ninety.  But  the  gentleman  to  whom 
this  conslfrllation  of  talents  owed  that  whimsical  appellation,  the  «'  Bas  Bleu," 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  145 

particular,  Dr  Beattie  met  at  Mrs  Montagu's  with  Lord  Lyttelton, 
to  whose  high  commendation  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  and  the 
"  Minstrel,"  he  had  been  so  eminently  indebted.  For  that  dis- 
tinguished nobleman  Dr  Beattie  retained  ever  after  the  highest  res- 
pect and  veneration  ;  and  I  have  often  heard  him  dwell  with  enthu- 
siasm and  delight  on  those  more  private  parties,  into  which  he  had 
had  the  happiness  of  being  admitted,  at  Mrs  Montagu's,  consisting 
of  Lord  Lyttelton,  Mrs  Carter,  and  one  or  two  other  most  intimate 

was  Mr  Stilling-fleet,  a  man  of  great  piety  and  worth,  the  author  of  some 
works  in  natural  history,  and  of  some  poetical  pieces  in  "  Dodsley's  CoUec- 
"  tion."  Mr  Stillingfleet  being'  somewhat  of  an  humourist  in  his  habits  and 
manners,  and  a  little  negligent  in  his  dress,  literally  wore  grey  stockings, 
from  which  circumstance,  Admiral  Boscawen  used,  by  way  of  pleasantry,  to 
call  them  the  "  Blue-Stocking  Society ;"  as  if  to  indicate,  that  when  these 
brilliant  friends  met,  it  was  not  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  dressed  assembly. 
A  foreigner  of  distinction  hearing  the  expression,  translated  it  literally, 
"  Bas  Bleu,"  by  which  these  meetings  came  to  be  afterwards  distinguished. 

Mrs  Hannah  More,*  who  was  herself  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
society,  has  written  an  admirable  poem,  with  the  title  of  the  "Bas  Bleu,"  in 
allusion  to  this  mistake  of  the  foreigner,  in  which  she  has  characterised  most 
of  the  eminent  personages  of  which  it  was  composed.  The  concluding  part 
of  her  prefatory  memorandum  to  the  poem,  is  so  very  apposite  to  my  present 
purpose,  that  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  inserting  it  here. 

"  May  the  author  be  permitted  to  bear  her  grateful  testimony,  which  will 
"  not  be  suspected  of  flattery,  now  that  most  of  the  persons  named  in  this 
•'  poem  are  gone  down  to  the  grave,  to  the  many  pleasant  and  instructive 
"  hours  she  had  the  honour  to  pass  in  this  company,  in  which  leai-ning  was  as 
"  little  disfigured  by  pedantry ;  good  taste  as  little  tinctured  by  affectation; 
"  and  general  conversation  as  little  disgraced  by  calumny,  levity,  and  the 
"  other  censurable  errors  with  which  it  is  too  commonly  tainted,  as  has  per- 
"  haps  been  known  in  any  society." — Works  of  Mrs  H.  More,  vol.  i.  p.  12. 

Mrs  Montagu  being  left,  by  the  will  of  her  husband,  in  possession  of  his 
noble  fortune,  lived  in  a  style  of  the  most  splendid  hospitality,  till  her  death, 
which  happened  at  an  advanced  age,  25th  August,  1800. 

I  had  first  the  happiness  of  being  acquainted  with  Mrs  Montagu  in  the 
year  1766,  when  she  passed  some  time  on  a  visit  to  the  late  Dr  Gregory  at 
Edinburgh,  at  whose  house  I  saw  her  almost  every  day.  Ever  after,  when  I 
occasionally  passed  some  time  in  I^ondon,  she  was  pleased,  in  a  particular 
manner,  to  honour  me  with  the  most  polite  and  gratifying  attention. 

*  The  excellent  Author  of  "  Strictures  on  Female  Education,"  "  Thoughts  on  the  Impor. 
"  taiice  of  the  Manners  of  the  Great  to  General  Society,"  and  an  "Estimate  of  the  Religion  of 
"  the  Fashionable  World,"  with  other  pieces. 

T 


146  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

friends,  who  spent  their  evenings  in  an  unreserved  interchange  of 
thoughts,  sometimes  on  critical  and  literary  subjects,  sometimes  on 
those  of  the  most  serious  and  interesting  nature. 

How  delighted  he  was  with  his  reception  on  this  occasion  in 
London,  will  be  seen  from  the  following  letters  to  his  friends. 


LETTER    XLVIII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  WILLIAMSON. 


London,  8th  September,  1771. 

"  I  NEED  not  tell  you  how  much  it  affects  me  to  hear,  that 
I  cannot  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  England.  I  hoped  it 
might  have  been  otherwise,  and  my  hopes  were  sanguine :  but  I 
am  satisfied  with  your  reasons,  and  am  willing  to  suppose,  with  you, 
that  one  time  or  other  we  may  meet  again,  even  in  this  country. 
My  health,  though  much  improved  since  I  left  Scotland,  is  not  so 
well  established  as  to  enable  me  to  write  a  long  letter  ;  otherwise  I 
have  ten  thousand  things  to  tell  you,  in  which  I  know  you  would  be 
much  interested.  My  spirits,  which,  when  I  came  from  home, 
were  at  the  very  lowest,  are  now  raised  again  near  to  their  usual 
pitch  :  for  I  have  been  as  dissipated  as  possible  of  late,  and  have 
neither  read  nor  written  any  thing  (except  now  and  then  a  very 
short  letter)  these  two  months.  Indeed  the  physicians  do  ex- 
pressly prohibit  both. 

"  I  have  been  here  five  weeks,  and  shall  probably  continue  a 
week  or  two  longer.  I  have  been  extremely  happy  in  making  a 
great  many  very  agreeable  and  very  creditable  acquaintance.  Dr 
Hawkesv/orth,  Dr  Armstrong,  Mr  Garrick,  Dr  Samuel  Johnson, 
and  several  others  of  note,  have  treated  me,  not  only  with  politeness, 
but  with  a  degree  of  attention  and  kindness  that  equals  my  warmest 
wishes.  1  wish  I  had  longer  time  to  pass  among  them  ;  I  shall 
find  it  no  easy  matter  to  force  myself  away.  Johnson  has  been 
greatly  misrepresented.      I  have  passed  several  entire  days  with 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  147 

him,  and  found  him  extremely  agreeable.  The  compliments  he 
pays  to  my  writings  are  so  high,  that  I  have  not  the  face  to  mention 
them.  Every  body  I  have  conversed  with  on  the  subject  (among 
whom  I  have  the  honour  to  reckon  Lord  Mansfield),  approves  of 
what  I  have  done  in  respect  to  Mr  Hume  ;  and  none  of  them  have 
been  able  to  find  any  personal  abuse,  any  coarse  expressions,  or 
even  any  indelicacy,  in  what  I  have  written  against  him  :  so  you 
see  I  have  no  great  reason  to  value  what  my  Scottish  enemies  say 
against  me.  This  I  mention  to  you,  because  I  know  it  will  give 
you  pleasure. 

"  A  letter  from  Utrecht,  which  I  received  since  I  came  here, 
informs  me,  that  three  translations  of  my  Essay,  a  French,  a  Dutch, 
and  a  German,  will  appear  next  winter.  Some  of  them  are  now  at 
the  press." 


LETTER  XLIX. 

THE    REV,    MR    MASON  *    TO    DR    BEATTIE. 

York,  irth  October,  1771. 

"  IN  my  late  melancholy  employment  of  reviewing  and  ar- 
ranging the  papers,  which  dear  Mr  Gray's  friendship  bequeathed 
to  my  care,  I  have  found  nine  letters  of  yours,  which  I  meant  to 
have  returned  ere  this,  had  I  found  a  safe  opportunity  by  a  private 
hand  ;  but  as  no  such  opportunity  has  yet  occurred,  I  take  the 
liberty  of  troubling  you  with  this,  to  enquire  how  I  may  best  convey 
them  to  you.  I  shall  continue  in  my  residence  here  t  till  the  12th 
of  next  month,  and  hope  in  that  intei'val  to  be  favoured  with  a  line 
from  you  upon  this  subject. 

"  I  should  deprive  myself  of  a  very  sincere  gratification,  if  I 
finished  this  letter,  with  the  business  that  occasions  it.     You  must 

•  Rector  of  Aston  in  Yorkshire,  the  well-known  author  of  "  Caractacus," 
*•  Elfrida,"  and  other  esteemed  pieces,  and  the  chosen  friend  of  Gray. 

f  Mr  Mason  was  precentor  of  the  Cathedral  of  York,  an  office,  which,  from 
its  name,  probably  gave  him  the  direction  of  the  choir. 


us  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

suffer  me  to  thank  you  for  the  very  high  degree  of  poetical  plea* 
sure  which  the  first  book  of  your  "Minstrel"  gave  my  imagination, 
and  that  equal  degree  of  rational  conviction  which  your  "  Essay  on 
"  the  Immutability  of  Truth"  impressed  on  my  understanding.  I 
will  freely  own  to  you,  that  the  very  idea  of  a  Scotsman's  attacking 
Mr  Hume  prejudiced  me  so  much  in  favour  of  the  latter  piece,  that 
I  should  have  approved  it,  if,  instead  of  a  masterly,  it  had  been  only 
a  moderate  performance. 

"  I  shall  be  happy  to  know,  that  the  remaining  books  of  your 
"  Minstrel"  are  likewise  to  be  published  soon.  The  next  best 
thing,  after  instructing  the  world  profitably,  is  to  amuse  it  inno- 
cently. England  has  lost  that  man,*  who,  of  all  others  in  it,  was 
best  qualified  for  both  these  purposes  ;  but  who,  from  early  chagrin 
and  disappomtment,  had  imbibed  a  disinclination  to  employ  his 
talents  beyond  the  sphere  of  self-satisfaction  and  improvement. 
May  Scotland  long  possess,  in  you,  a  person  both  qualified  and 
willing  to  exert  his,  for  the  pleasure  and  benefit  of  society." 


LETTER  L. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  WILLIAMSON. 

Aberdeen,  22d  December,  1771. 

^^'  ON  my  return  from  London,  I  passed  through  Cam- 
bridge ;  but  had  not  the  heart  to  stay  longer  than  to  dine,  and  see 
some  of  the  principal  curiosities.  Mr  Gray's  death  ran  too  much 
in  my  head.  He  has  left  all  his  papers  to  Mr  Mason,  from  whom 
I  have  lately  had  two  very  obliging  letters.  He  had  found  several 
letters  of  mine  to  Mr  Gray  ;  and  wrote  to  me,  desii-ing  to  know 
what  he  should  do  with  them  ;  paying  me,  at  the  same  time,  some 
very  handsome  compliments  on  the  score  of  my  "  Essay"  and 
«  Minstrel."  In  answer,  I  asked  the  favour  that  he  would  acquaint 
me  what  papers  in  the  poetical  way  Mr  Gray  had  left ;  and  he  has 
given  me  a  very  particular  detail  of  them,  and  a  character  of  each, 

*  Mr  Gray. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  149 

and  offers  me  the  perusal  of  any  of  them  I  wish  to  see.  There  is 
an  epitaph  on  a  friend,  a  sonnet  in  Petrarch's  manner,  an  address  to 
the  engraver  who  published  the  prints  annexed  to  the  folio  edition 
of  his  poems.  These  are  finished,  and  all  of  them  excellent.  There 
is  a  fragment  of  a  tragedy  ;  a  part  of  an  essay,  in  verse  of  ten  syl- 
lables, on  the  influence  of  government  and  education  on  human 
happiness,  finished  as  far  as  it  goes,  viz.  107  lines,  in  the  highest 
manner  ;  part  of  an  ode  on  the  vicissitude  of  the  seasons  ;  several 
other  imperfect  pieces  ;  and  some  Latin  poems.  Mr  Mason  has 
not  yet  determined  what  pieces  he  shall  publish.  I  fancy  the 
public  would  wish  to  see  them  all,  and  yet  perhaps  they  ought  not. 
The  works  of  Swift  and  Shenstone  are  a  melancholy  example  of  the 
indiscretion  of  friends  in  regard  to  posthumous  publications.  The 
admirers  of  Mr  Gray  will  be  happy  to  think,  that  he  has  made 
choice  of  such  an  able  executor  as  Mr  Mason." 


On  reading  what  Dr  Beattie  has  said  in  the  preceding  letter, 
on  the  publication  of  posthumous  works,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered,  if 
I  feel  a  more  than  ordinary  anxiety,  lest  I  may  myself  have  fallen 
into  the  error  respecting  Dr  Beattie,  which  he  so  justly  reprobates 
with  regard  to  some  former  publicati&ns.  All  I  can  say  on  the 
head  is,  that  I  have  endeavoured  scrupulously  to  adhere  to  the  rule 
with  which  I  set  out,  "  of  not  admitting  any  thing  that  I  thought 
"  would  hurt  the  feelings  of  others ;  nor  any  anecdote  or  opinion 
"  which  Dr  Beattie  himself  could  have  wished  tohave  suppressed."* 
If  I  have  erred  in  that  respect,  however,  as  to  error  we  are  all  liable, 
I  trust  I  may  obtain  belief  when  I  say,  that  I  have  erred  uninten- 
tionally ;  and  that  if  any  such  shall  be  pointed  out  to  me,  I  shall  be 
most  ready  to  correct  whatever  is  amiss,  should  this  work  ever  ar- 
rive at  a  second  edition. 

•  Introduction,  p.  viii. 


140  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  LL 


BK    BEATTIE    TO    DR    BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  23(1  May,  1772- 

"  I  AM  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your  elegy,*  which  I  have 
read  with  much  pleasure.  The  plan  is  new,  and  the  sentiments 
ai'e  propel',  and  often  very  pathetic.  Where  the  person  lamented 
has  no  remarkable  peculiarities  of  character,  it  is  difficult  to  give 
a  new  turn  to  the  elegy ;  every  thing  that  can  be  said  on  these  oc- 
casions having  been  said  so  often  already ;  yet  I  think  in  your 
elegy  there  is  a  great  deal  of  novelty  and  originality.  You  say  it 
savours  strongly  of  the  tenth  lustrum  ;  a  circumstance  which  could 
never  have  prejudiced  me  against  it ;  for  I  believe  you  will  find, 
that  the  best  human  compositions  have  been  written,  or  at  least 
finished,  when  the  author  Avas  above  forty.  Virgil  published  his 
"  Georgics"  at  forty-two,  if  I  mistake  not ;  and  Milton  his  "  Para- 
dise Lost,"  when  he  was  more  than  sixty.  In  youthful  composi- 
tions there  may  be  more  of  that  romantic  cast  of  imagination, 
which  young  people  admire  ;  but  very  rarely  is  there  so  much  of 
those  qualities  that  are  universally  pleasing,  as  in  the  productions 
of  persons  further  advanced  in  life  ;  I  mean,  knowledge  of  human 
natui-e,  good  sense,  mature  reflection,  and  accuracy  of  plan  and 
language." 

LETTER  Lli. 

DK    BEATTIE    TO    MRS    MONTAGU.f 

"  I  REJOICE  to  hear  that  Mr  Garrick  is  so  well  as  to  be 
able  to  appear  in  tragedy.  It  is  in  vain  to  indulge  one's  self  in 
ttnavailing  complaints,   otherwise  I  could  rail  by  the  hour  at  dame 

*  What  elegy  is  here  spoken  of,  I  know  not. 

I  Tills  letter  is  imperfect,  and  the  date  is  wanting;  but  it  must  have  been 

written  about  this  time. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  151 

Fortune,  for  placing  me  beyond  the  reach  of  that  arch-magician, 
as  Horace  would  have  called  him.  I  well  remember,  and  I  think 
can  never  forget,  how  he  once  affected  me  in  Macbeth,  and  made 
me  almost  throw  myself  over  the  front  seat  of  the  two-shilling  gal- 
lery. I  wish  I  had  another  opportunity  of  risking  my  neck  and 
nerves  in  the  same  cause.  To  fall  by  the  hands  of  Garrick  and 
Shakespeare  would  ennoble  my  memory  to  all  generations  :  To  be 
serious,  if  all  actors  were  like  this  one,  I  do  not  think  it  would  be 
possible  for  a  pe  rson  of  sensibility  to  outlive  the  representation  of 
Hamlet,  Lear,  or  Macljeth  :  which,  by  the  bye,  seems  to  suggest 
a  reason  for  that  mixture  of  comedy  and  tragedy  of  which  our 
great  poet  was  so  fond,  and  which  the  Frenchifyed  critics  think 
such  an  intolerable  outrage  both  against  nature  and  decency. 
Against  nature,  it  is  no  outrage  at  all :  the  inferior  officers  of  a 
court  know  little  of  what  passes  among  kings  and  statesmen  ;  and 
may  be  very  merry,  when  their  superiors  are  very  sad  ;  and  if  so, 
the  Porter's  soliloquy  in  Macbeth  may  be  a  veiy  just  imitation  of 
nature.  And  I  can  never  accuse  of  indecency  the  man,  who,  by  the 
introduction  of  a  little  unexpected  merriment,  saves  me  from  a  dis- 
ordered head,  or  abroken  heart.  If  Shakespeare  knew  his  own  pow- 
ers, he  must  have  seen  the  necessity  of  tempering  his  tragic  rage, 
by  a  mixture  of  comic  ridicule  ;  otherwise  there  was  some  dan- 
ger of  his  running  into  greater  excesses  than  deer-stealing,  by 
sporting  with  the  lives  of  all  the  people  of  taste  in  these  realms. 
Other  play-wrights  must  conduct  their  approaches  to  the  human 
heart  with  the  utmost  circumspection,  a  single  false  step  may 
make  them  lose  a  great  deal  of  ground  ;  but  Shakespeare  made 
his  way  to  it  at  once,  and  could  make  his  audience  burst  their 
sides  this  moment,  and  break  their  hearts  the  next. — I  have  often 
seen  Hamlet  performed  by  the  underlings  of  the  theatre,  but  none 
of  these  seemed  to  understand  what  they  were  about.  Hamlet's 
character,  though  perfectly  natural,  is  so  very  uncommon,  that  few, 
even  of  our  critics,  can  enter  into  it.  Sorrow,  indignation,  re- 
venge, and  consciousness  of  his  own  irresolution,  tear  his  heart ; 
the  peculiarity  of  his  circumstances  often  obliges  him  to  counter- 
feit madness,  and  the  storm  of  passions  within  him  often  drives 
him  to  the  verge  of  real  madness.  This  produces  a  situation  so  in- 
tercj;ring,  and  a  conduct  so  complicated,  as  none  but  Shakespeare 
could  have  had  the  courage  to  describe,  or  even  to  invent,  and  none 


152  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

but  Garrick  will  ever  be  able  to  exhibit. — Excuse  this  rambling  :  I 
know  you  like  the  subject ;  and  for  my  part  I  like  it  so  much,  that 
when  I  once  get  in,  I  am  not  willing  to  find  my  way  out  of  it. 

"  I  have  enclosed  two  papers  ;  one  is  an  epitaph  which  I  wrote 
(at  the  Doctor's  desire)  for  Mrs  Gregory,  and  which  has  one  kind 
of  merit,  not  very  common  in  these  compositions,  that  of  being 
perfectly  true  :  *  the  other  is  a  tune  which  you  desired  me  to  send 
you,  and  which,  if  it  were  what  is  pretended,  would  indeed  be  a 
very  great  curiosity  ;  but  I  am  apt  to  think  that  it  has  been  com- 
posed in  modern  times,  and  even  since  the  invention  of  the  pre- 
sent musical  system.  Yet  I  have  been  told,  by  pretty  good  au- 
thority, that  the  Greeks  believe  it  to  be  as  ancient  as  the  days  of 
Theseus. t 

"  The  book  of  second-sight  has  not,  I  fear,  given  you  much 
entertainment. :J  The  tales  are  iii-told,  and  ill-chosen,  and  the  lan- 
guage so  barbarous  as  to  be  in  many  places  unintelligible,  even  to 
a  Scotsman.  I  have  heard  many  better  stories  of  tne  second- 
sight,  than  any  this  author  has  given,  attested  by  such  persons,  and 
accompanied  by  such  circumstances,  as  to  preclude  contradiction, 
though  not  suspicion.  All  our  Highlanders  believe  in  this  second- 
sight  :  but  the  instances,  in  which  it  is  said  to  operate,  are  gene- 
rally so  ambiguous,  and  the  revelations  supposed  to  be  communi- 
cated by  it  so  frivolous,  that  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  acquiesce  in 
it.  Indeed  this  same  historian  has  made  me  more  incredulous 
than  I  was  before  ;  for  his  whole  book  betrays  an  excess  of  folly 
and  weakness.  ^Vere  its  revelations  important,  I  should  be  less 
inclined  to  unbelief;  but  to  suppose  the  Deity  working  a  miracle, 
in  order  to  announce  a  marriage,  or  the  arrival  of  a  poor  stranger, 
or  the  making  of  a  coffin,  would  require  such  evidence  as  has  not 
yet  attended  any  of  these  tales,  and  is  indeed  what  scarce  any  kind 
of  evidence  could  make  one  suppose.  These  communications  are 
all  made  to  the  ignorant,  the  superstitious,  and  generally  to  the 
young  ;  I  never  heard  of  a  man  of  learning,  sense,  or  observation, 
that  was  favoured  with  any  of  them  ;  a  strong  presumption  against 
their  credibility.     I  have  been  told,  that  the  inhabitants  of  some 

•  Vide  Appendix,  [U.]  f  Vide  Appendix,  [X.] 

\  Dr  Bcattic  has  Introduced  a  disquisition  on  the  second-sight,  into  his 
"  Essay  on  Poetry  und  Music,"  part  I.  chap.  VI.  3.  p.  481. 4to.  e:l. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  153 

parts  of  the  Alps  do  also  lay  claim  to  a  sort  of  second-sight :  and 
I  believe  the  same  superstition,  or  something  like  it,  may  be  found 
in  many  other  countries,  where  the  face  of  nature,  and  the  solitary 
life  of  the  natives,  tend  to  impress  the  imagination  with  melan- 
choly. The  Highlands  of  Scotland  are  a  picturesque,  but  gloomy 
region.  Long  tracts  of  solitary  mountains  covered  with  heath  and 
rocks,  and  often  obscured  by  mist ;  narrow  valleys,  thinly  inhabited, 
and  bounded  by  precipices  that  resound  for  ever  with  the  fall  of  tor- 
rents ;  a  soil  so  rugged,  and  a  climate  so  dreary,  as  to  admit  nei- 
ther the  amusements  of  pasturage,  nor  the  cheerful  toils  of  agricul- 
ture ;  the  mournful  dashing  of  waves  along  the  friths  and  lakes 
that  every  where  intersect  this  country ;  the  portentous  sounds, 
which  every  change  of  the  wind,  and  every  increase  and  diminution 
of  the  waters,  is  apt  to  raise  in  a  region  full  of  rocks  and  hollow- 
cliffs  and  caverns  ;  the  grotesque  and  ghastly  appearance  of  such 
a  landscape,  especially  by  the  light  of  the  moon  ; — objects  like 
these  diffuse  an  habitual  gloom  over  the  fancy,  and  give  it  that  ro- 
mantic cast,  that  disposes  to  invention,  and  that  melancholy,  which 
inclines  one  to  the  fear  of  unseen  things  and  unknown  events.  It 
is  obsei'vable  too,  that  the  ancient  Scottish  Highlanders  had  scarce 
any  other  way  of  supporting  themselves,  than  by  hunting,  fishing, 
or  war ;  pi'ofessions,  that  are  continually  exposed  to  the  most  fatal 
accidents.  Thus,  almost  every  circumstance  in  their  lot  tended 
to  rouse  and  terrify  the  imagination.  Accordingly  their  poetry  is 
uniformly  mournful ;  their  music  melancholy  and  dreadful,  and 
their  superstitions  are  all  of  the  gloomy  kind.  The  fairies  confined 
their  gambols  to  the  Lowlands  :  the  mountains  were  haunted  with 
giants,  and  angry  ghosts,  and  funeral  processions,  and  other  prodi- 
gies of  direful  import.  That  a  people,  beset  with  such  real  and  ima- 
ginary bugbears,  should  fancy  themselves  dreaming,  even  when 
awake,  of  corpses,  and  graves,  and  coffins,  and  other  terrible  things, 
seems  natural  enough  ;  but  that  their  visions  ever  tended  to  any 
real  or  useful  discovery,  I  am  much  inclined  to  doubt.  Not  that 
I  mean  to  deny  the  existence  of  ghosts,  or  to  call  in  question  the 
accounts  of  extraordinary  revelations,  granted  to  individuals,  with 
which  both  history  and  tradition  abound.  But  in  all  cases,  where 
such  accounts  are  entitled  to  credit,  or  supported  by  tolerable  evi- 
dence, it  will  be  found,  that  they  referred  to  something  which  it 
concerned  men  to  know  ;  the  overthrow  of  kingdoms,  the  death  of 

u 


154  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

great  persons,  the  detection  of  atrocious  crimes,  or  the  preservation 
of  important  lives. — But  I  take  up  too  much  of  your  time  vi'ith 
these  matters. 

"  I  have  lately  received  another  very  kind  letter  from  Mr 
Mason,  in  w^hich  he  gives  me  an  account  of  all  the  poetical  pieces, 
which  Mr  Cray  has  left  unpublished.  There  is,  1.  A  Sonnet  on 
the  death  of  a  friend,  written  1742,  of  true  Petrarchian  pathos  and 
delicacy.  2.  Stanzas  in  alternate  rhyme,  to  Mr  Bently,  on  the 
designs  he  made  for  his  poems.  3.  An  Epitaph  on  Sir  William 
Williams,  who  was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Belle-Isle  ;  perfect  in  its 
kind.  4.  The  opening  scene  of  a  tragedy,  called  Agrippina,  with 
the  first  speech  of  the  second  ;  written  much  in  Racine's  manner, 
and  with  many  masterly  strokes.  5.  An  unfinished  address  to 
ignorance,  in  rhyme  of  ten  syllables ;  satirical.  6.  One  hundred 
and  seven  lines,  of  the  same  measure  with  the  former,  of  the  be- 
ginning of  an  ethical  essay  on  education  and  government ;  finished, 
as  far  as  it  goes,  in  the  highest  manner  ;  the  most  valuable  piece 
he  has  left.  7.  Six  eight-lined  stanzas  of  an  ode  on  the  vicissitude 
of  the  seasons,  nearly  equal  in  point  of  merit,  allowing  for  its  being 
incomplete,  with  the  ode  on  spring ;  besides  some  translations, 
epigrams,  and  Latin  poems.  Mr  Mason  obligingly  offers  me  such 
of  these  pieces  as  I  wish  to  see,  and  I  have  asked  to  see  the  1.3. 
6.  and  7.  I  heartily  wish  they  may  be  printed,  as  they  would  tend 
to  shew  the  universality  of  Gray's  genius." 


LETTER  Lin. 


DR  PERCY*  (now  LORD  BISHOP  OF  DROMORE)  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 


Northumberland  House,  27tli  May,  1772. 

"  I  LOSE  no  time  in  thanking  you  for  your  most  obliging- 
letter,  and  the  very  pleasing  ballad  that  accompanied  it.  Such 
presents,  when  they  fall  in  your  way,  will  always  be  most  accepta- 
ble, and  very  gratefully  acknowledged. 

*  The  editor  of  "Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry,"  to  which  the  first 
part  of  this  letter  alludes. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE".  155 

"  I  had  also  another  reason  for  troublmg  you  with  so  early  an 
atiswer  :  it  was  to  convey  to  you  a  copy  of  the  inclosed  sermons  ; 
wherein  you  will  find  very  warm,  but  just  acknowledgments  for  the 
services  you  have  done  to  the  cause  of  truth.  The  author*  of  them 
is  so  much  your  admirer,  that  when  he  knew  I  was  writing  to  you, 
he  desired  me  to  inclose  a  few  lines  from  himself.  If  his  personal 
character  is  not  known  to  you,  I  must  inform  you,  that  Dr  Porteus 
is  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  Church  of  England  :  He 
was  chaplain  to  Archbishop  Seeker,  who  left  him  one  of  the 
executors  to  his  will,  and  editor  of  his  works,  which  he  has  since 
published.  He  is  a  man  of  the  most  engaging  and  amiable  manners, 
and  most  distinguished  abilities.  The  sermons  here  sent  Avere 
preached  before  the  king,  and  procured  the  preacher  a  degree  of 
reputation  beyond  that  of  any  sermons  preached  in  my  remem- 
brance.    The  King  and  whole  court  talked  of  nothing  else,  for 

*  The  Rig^lit  Reverend  Dr  Beilby  Porteus,  at  that  time  Rector  of  Lam- 
beth, afterwards  Bishop  of  Chester,  and  now  Lord  Bishop  of  London.  This 
exemplary  ]>relate  is  too  well  known,  to  require  any  encomium  in  tliis  place; 
and  the  character  given  of  him  in  tliis  letter,  by  the  Bishop  of  Droniore,  will 
be  allowed  by  all  to  be  strictly  just.  Besides  what  is  said  here  of  the  Bishop 
of  London's  merit  as  a  preacher,  it  is  fully  proved  by  his  volumes  of  printed 
sermons,  which  have  justly  received  the  best  marks  of  public  approbation. 
One  circumstance  respecting  his  discourses  from  the  pulpit  deserves,  in  a 
particular  manner,  to  be  recorded.  In  the  year  1798,  and  the  three  following 
years,  when  the  nation  was  carrying  on  the  deadliest  and  tlie  most  important 
war,  in  which  it  ever  was  engaged ;  while,  at  the  same  time  too  many  in  the 
upper  ranks  of  society  in  London  seemed  to  plunge  deeper  into  every  excess  of 
dissipation,  as  the  awful  prospect  of  national  afl'airs  became  more  gloomy  and 
interesting,  the  Bishop  of  London  conceived  the  idea  of  delivering  lectures, 
every  Friday,  in  St  James's  Church,  during  the  season  of  Lent.  He  chose 
for  his  subject  the  Gospel  of  St  Matthew.  Those  lectures,  which  have  since 
been  published,  and  are  most  excellent  and  instructive,  were  attended,  with 
great  devotion,  by  crowded  audiences  of  the  most  fashionable  persons  of  high 
life  :  and  it  is  piously  to  be  hoped,  not  without  their  suitable  improvement. 

Dr  Beattie  had  the  happiness  of  becoming  personally  known  to  Dr  Por- 
teus, on  his  going  to  London  in  the  year  1773,  and  from  that  period  a  friend- 
sliip  the  most  sincere  took  place  between  them,  and  a  correspondence,  which 
lasted  until  Dr  Bcattie's  health  no  longer  permitted  him  to  carry  it  on. 

I  cannot  but  avail  myself,  witli  pecidiar  satisfaction,  of  this  opportunity  of 
expressing  the  grateful  sense  I  shall  ever  entertain,  of  the  notice  with  which 
the  Bishop  of  London  has  long  iionoured  me,  and  which,  I  am  conscious,  I  owe 
to  our  common  friend. 


156  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

many  days  after ;  the  Queen  personally  desired  to  peruse  them 
afterwards  m  her  closet ;  and  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  being 
not  at  court  till  the  Thursday  after  the  last  of  them  was  preached, 
came  home  full  of  the  accounts  he  heard  from  every  mouth,  of 
the  impressions  these  sermons  had  made  in  the  Chapel  Royal. 
All  this  you  will  perhaps  think  very  extraordinary ;  it  is  never- 
theless literally  true,  as  I  can  testify  of  my  own  personal  know- 
ledge." 


LETTER  LIV. 

DR  PORTEUS  (now  LORD  BISHOP  OF  LONDON)  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Lambeth,  22d  May,  1772. 

"  THOUGH  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  being  personally 
known  to  ypu,  I  take  the  liberty  of  requesting  your  acceptance  of 
a  small  pei'formance  of  mine,  which  Dr  Percy  promises  to  convey 
to  you.  I  have  read,  sir,  with  singular  delight,  both  your  poem 
called  the  "  Minstrel,"  and  your  "  Essay  on  Truth."  It  is  a  very 
uncommon  thing  to  see  so  much  true  poetical  invention,  and  such 
a  talent  for  profound  philosophical  disquisition,  united  in  the  same 
person,  and  it  is  still  more  uncommon  to  see  such  fine  parts,  espe- 
cially in  a  layman,  dedicated  to  the  support  of  virtue  and  religion. 
I  am  not  at  all  surprised  to  hear,  that  your  spirited  attack  on  the 
head-quarters  of  scepticism  has  drawn  upon  you  the  resentment  of 
Mr  Hume  and  his  followers.  It  is  nothing  more  than  might  be 
expected,  and,  in  the  eyes  of  all  impartial  men,  it  is  so  far  from 
being  any  reproach,  that  it  is  an  honour  to  you.  It  shows  that  they 
feel  the  force  of  your  arguments ;  for  personal  invective  they  can- 
not justly  complain  of  The  keenness  of  your  manly  reproofs  is 
directed  not  against  their  persons,  but  their  cause  ;  and  it  falls  far 
short  of  what  such  a  cause  deserves.  But  whatever  unjust  asper- 
sions may  be  thrown  upon  you  by  your  own  countrymen,  let  this 
be  your  consolation,  (if  you  need  any)  that  in  England  your  book 
has  been  received  with  universal  applause.  In  the  range  of  my 
acquaintance,  which  is  pretty  extensive,  both  among  the  clergy 


I 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  157 

and  the  laity,  I  have  never  yet  met  with  a  single  person,  of  true 
taste  and  sound  judgment,  who  did  not  speak  of  your  "  Essay"  in 
the  warmest  terms  of  approbation.  In  this  they  have  always  had 
my  most  hearty  concurrence,  and  I  was  glad  of  an  opportunity  of 
giving  some  public  testimony  of  my  great  esteem  for  your  writings; 
as  you  will  see  I  have  done  in  a  note,  which  very  honestly  expres- 
ses my  real  sentiments,  and  says  nothing  more  than  is  justly  your 
due. 

"  The  two  sermons,  which  I  send  you,  are  meant  as  the  best 
return  I  could  make  (thougli,  I  must  confess,  a  very  inadequate 
one)  for  the  great  pleasure  and  instruction  I  have  received  from 
your  writings.  Give  me  leave  only  to  add  farther,  that  this  place 
(which  is  contiguous  to  London)  is  my  constant  residence,  from  the 
end  of  November  to  the  beginning  of  June.  And  if  either  business 
or  amusement  should  bi'ing  you  to  the  metropolis,  during  that  part 
of  the  year,  I  shall  be  extremely  glad  to  pay  my  respects  to  you 
here,  and  to  assure  you  how  much  I  am,  sir,  yours,"  Sec. 


LETTER  LV. 

DR.  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Edinburgh,  6th  July,  1772. 

"  YOUR  last  letter,  of  the  5th  June,  reached  me  after  I  had 
been  some  days  at  Peterhead,  endeavouring,  by  the  use  of  the  me- 
dicinal waters  of  that  place,  to  shake  off  this  hideous  indisposition. 
But  from  that  water  I  did  not  receive  half  so  much  benefit,  as  from 
the  very  agreeable  accounts  you  gave  me  of  your  health  and  spi- 
rits. I  congratulate  you,  madam,  and  myself  on  your  recovery, 
and  I  earnestly  pray  it  may  be  permanent. 

"  Your  description  of  Tunbridge-wells  is  so  very  lively,  that  I 
think  myself  present  in  every  pai't  of  it.  I  see  your  hills,  your 
cattle,  your  carriages,  your  beaux  and  belles  blended  together  in 
agreeable  confusion.  I  am  delighted  while  I  sympathise  with  the 
feelings  of  those,whose  imagination  is  refreshed  and  amused,  by  the 
pleasing  incongruities  of  the  scene,  and  whose  health  and  spirits 


158  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

are  restored  by  the  freshness  of  the  air,  and  the  virtues  of  the  foun- 
tain. But  what  interests  and  delights  me  most  of  all,  and  more 
tlian  words  can  express,  is,  that  by  the  eye  of  fancy  I  behold  you, 
madam,  looking  around  on  this  scene  with  an  aspect,  in  which  all 
your  native  benignity,  sprightliness,  and  harmony  of  soul  are 
heightened,  with  every  decoration  that  health  and  cheerfulness  can 
bestow. 

"  I  am  greatly  aifected  with  your  goodness,  and  Lord  Lyttel- 
fon's,  in  urging  my  advancement  with  so  much  zeal  and  perse- 
verance.    After  what  Loi'd  Mansfield*  has  done  me  the  honour  to 


*  William  Murray,  son  of  the  Lord  Viscount  Stormont,  created  Baron 
(afterwards  Earl  of)  Mansfield,  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Ki:.g's 
Bench,  during  the  long  period  of  tJiirty-two  years.  In  early  life,  he  was 
eminently  distinguished  by  his  eloquence  at  the  bur,  as  well  as  afterwards  in 
both  houses  of  parliament.  When  exalted  to  the  bench,  he  rendered  his  name 
revered,  not  only  by  the  ability  and  uprightness  of  his  conduct,  but  by  the 
extent  of  his  knowledge,  and  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  views,  upon  many 
new  subjects  of  judicial  decision.  Scarcely  any  man  of  his  time  possessed, 
in  an  equal  degTee,  that  wonderful  sagacity  in  detecting  chicanery  and  arti- 
fice, in  separating  fallacy  from  trutii,  and  sophistry  from  argument,  which 
discovers,  as  if  by  intuition,  the  exact  equity  of  the  case.  Nor  was  lie  less 
remarkable  for  his  regularity,  punctuality,  and  dispatch  of  business,  by  which 
the  suitors  in  his  court  were  relieved  from  the  tedious  anxiety  of  suspense, 
so  generally  complained  of  in  a  court  of  justice.  I  am  informed,  says  Sir 
James  Burrows,  who  was  Clei'k  of  the  Crown  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
and  who  therefore  knew  Lord  Mansfield  well,  tliat  at  the  sittings  for  London 
and  Middlesex,  there  are  not  so  few  as  eight  hundred  cases  set  down  in  a  year, 
and  all  disposed  of.  Upon  the  last  day  of  the  last  term,  says  Sir  James,  if 
we  exclude  such  motions  of  the  term,  as  by  desire  of  the  parties  went  over 
of  covn'se,  there  was  not  a  single  matter  of  any  kind  that  remained  undeter- 
mined, excepting  one  case,  professedly  postponed  on  account  of  tlie  situation 
of  America;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  last  day  of  any  former  term 
for  some  years  backwards.  The  same  writer  also  informs  us  of  the  following 
most  remarkable  circimistance,  respecting  Lord  Mansfield's  decisions  ;  that, 
excepting  in  two  cases,  there  had  not  been  a  final  difference  of  opinion  in 
the  court,  in  any  case,  or  upon  any  point  whatsoever,  during  the  long  period 
from  November  1756,  to  May  1776,  the  time  of  Sir  James's  publication  ; 
and  it  is  not  less  remarkable,  that,  except  in  these  two  cases,  no  judgment 
given  in  that  court  during  the  same  period  has  been  reversed,  either  in  the 
Excheqvier-Chamber  or  in  Parliament.  Lord  Mansfield  honoured  Dr  Bcattie, 
in  a  mo^t  particular  manner,  with  his  friendly  regard.  He  died,  18th  March. 
1795,  aged  8S. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  159 

declare  in  my  favour,  I  cannot  doubt  but  your  friendly  endeavours 
will  at  last  prove  successful.  I  now  see  that  Lord  Mansfield 
wishes  to  establish  me  in  Scotland,  and  I  am  certain,  that  in  this, 
as  in  other  matters,  his  judgment  is  founded  on  the  best  reasons. 
I  am  greatly  flattered  by  your  kind  invitation  to  Sandleford.  I  would 
not,  for  any  consideration,  forego  the  hope  that  1  shall  one  time  or 
other  avail  myself  of  it.     But  at  present,  this  is  not  in  my  power. 

"  The  second  canto  of  the  "  Minstrel"  is  nearly  finished,  and 
has  been  so  these  two  years ;  but  till  my  health  be  better  esta- 
blished, I  must  not  think  of  making  any  additions  to  it. 

"  If  you  have  not  seen  Dr  Porteus's  two  sermons,  lately  pub- 
lished, I  would  recommend  them  to  your  notice,  because  they  are, 
in  my  opinion,  among  the  most  elegant  compositions  of  the  kind  in 
the  English  language.  Dr  P.  did  me  the  honour  to  send  me  a 
copy  of  them,  accompanied  with  a  very  kind,  and  very  polite 
letter." 


LETTER  LVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS,  (nOW  LORD  BISHOP  OF  LONDON). 

Aberdeen,  18th  August,  1772. 

"  YOUR  approbation  of  my  weak  endeavours  in  the  cause 
of  truth  gives  me  the  most  sincere  pleasure.  How  shall  I  thank 
you,  sir,  for  having  declared  that  approbation,  so  flattering  to  my 
ambition,  and  so  favourable  to  my  reputation  and  interest  ?  Not 
satisfied  with  giving  the  public  a  favourable  opinion  of  my  late 
publication,  and  honouring  my  name  with  a  place  in  your  work, 
you  wish  to  recommend  me  to  the  notice  of  Royalty  itself,  and  to 
give  to  my  labours  such  a  lustre  as  might  attract  those  eyes,  from 
which  many  would  desire  to  hide  all  merit  but  their  own.  Be 
assured,  sir,  that  I  shall  ever  retain  a  just  sense  of  your  candour, 
good  nature,  and  generosity ;  and  that  the  encouragement  I  have 
received  from  you,  and  from  your  noble-minded  countrymen,  will 
serve  as  an  additional  motive  to  employ  that  health  and  leisure.. 


160  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

which  Providence  may  hereafter  allot  me,  in  promoting,  to  the 
utmost  of  my  poor  abilities,  the  cause  of  truth,  virtue,  and  man- 
kind. This  is  the  best  return  I  can  make  to  your  goodness ;  for 
thus  only  can  I,  in  any  degree,  approve  myself  worthy  of  it. 

"  The  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  according  to  my  original  plan,  is  only 
the  first  pai't  of  a  large  treatise  that  I  had  projected,  on  the  evi- 
dences of  morality  and  religion.  I  entered  on  my  second  part  some 
years  ago,  and  made  a  little  progress  in  it.  My  intention  there  was 
to  attempt  a  confutation  of  the  errors  which  Hume,  Helvetius,  and 
other  fashionable  writers  had  introduced  into  the  moral  sciences. 
The  subject  would  have  led  me  to  the  evidence  of  Christianity ; 
and  my  own  heart  would  have  disposed,  and  my  own  conscience 
determined  me  to  do  justice  to  the  characters  and  abilities  of  Vol- 
taire, and  other  contemporary  infidels,  with  the  same  freedom, 
and  with  the  same  spirit,  that  appear  in  what  I  have  Avritteii 
against  Hume's  philosophy.  But  the  wretched  state  of  my  health 
obliges  me  to  suspend,  for  the  present,  all  my  literary  projects. 
I  hope,  however,  to  get  better  in  time,  for  I  am  told,  that  these 
nervous  disorders  are  seldom  fatal  at  my  age. 

"  I  can  never  forget  what  I  owe  to  the  candour  and  humanity 
of  the  English  nation.  To  have  obtained  the  approbation  and 
patronage  of  those  who  have  so  long  been,  and  who  will,  I  hope, 
continue  to  the  latest  ages  to  be,  the  patrons  of  truth,  and  the  great 
assertors  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  is  an  honour  indeed,  of  which  I 
feel  the  high  value.  While  animated  by  this  consideration,  I  can 
overlook,  and  almost  forget,  the  opposition  I  have  met  with  from 
a  powerful  party  in  this  country,  who,  since  the  publication  of  the 
"  Essay  on  Truth,"  have  taken  no  little  pains  to  render  my  condi- 
tion as  uneasy  as  possible.  In  other  countries,  infidels  appear  but 
as  individuals ;  but  in  Scotland  they  form  a  party,  whose  principle 
is,  to  discountenance  and  bear  down  religion  to  the  utmost  of  their 
power.* 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  speaking  so  favourably  of  the 
"  Minstrel."  When  I  published  the  first  book,  the  greatest  part 
of  the  second  was  written ;  and  I  hoped  to  have  got  the  whole 
ready  (for  I  intend  only  three  books)  within  a  year.  But  since  that 
time,  my  health  has  been  quite  unfit  for  study  of  every  kind. 

*  See  what  is  said  at  p.  72. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  161 

When  I  go  to  London,  which  may  possibly  be  next  summer,  I 
■will,  with  great  pleasure,  avail  myself  of  yovir  kind  invitation, 
and  take  the  first  oppoi'tunity  of  paying  my  respects  to  you  at 
Lambeth." 


LETTER  LVIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  30th  September,  1772. 

"  I  HAVE  never  seen  Mr  Jones's  imitations  of  the  Asiatic 
poetry.  From  what  you  say  of  them,  I  am  sure  they  will  enter- 
tain me ;  thovigh  I  am  entirely  of  your  opinion,  that,  if  they  had 
been  translations,  they  would  have  been  much  more  valuable,  and 
the  more  literal  the  better.  Such  things  deserve  attention,  not  so 
much  for  the  amusement  they  yield  to  the  fancy,  as  for  the  know- 
ledge they  convey  of  the  minds  and  manners  of  the  people  among 
whom  they  are  produced.  To  those  who  have  feelings,  and  are 
capable  of  observation,  that  poetical  expression  and  description  will 
be  most  agreeable,  which  corresponds  most  exactly  to  their  own  ex- 
perience. I  cannot  sympathize  with  passions  1  never  felt;  and  when 
objects  are  described  in  colours,  shapes,  and  proportions  quite  un- 
like to  what  I  have  been  accustomed  to,  I  suspect  that  the  descrip- 
tions are  not  just,  and  that  it  is  not  nature  that  is  presented  to  my 
view,  but  the  dreams  of  a  man  who  had  never  studied  nature. 

"  What  is  the  reason,  madam,  that  the  poetry,  and  indeed  the 
whole  phraseology,  of  the  eastern  nations  (and  I  believe  the  same 
thing  holds  of  all  uncultivated  nations)  is  so  full  of  glaring  images, 
exaggerated  metaphors,  and  gigantic  descriptions  ?  Is  it,  because 
that,  in  those  countries,  where  art  has  made  little  progress,  nature 
shoots  forth  into  wilder  magnificence,  and  every  thing  appears  to 
be  constructed  on  a  larger  scale?  Is  it  that  the  language,  through 
defect  of  copiousness,  is  obliged  to  adopt  metaphor  and  similitude, 
even  for  expressing  the  most  obvious  sentiments  ?  Is  it,  that  the 
ignorance  and  indolence  of  such  people,  unfriendly  to  liberty,  dis- 

X 


162  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

poses  them  to  regard  their  governors  as  of  superaatural  dignity, 
and  to  decorttte  them  with  the  most  pompous  and  high-sounding 
titles,  the  frequent  use  of  which  comes  at  last  to  infect  their  whole 
conversation  with  bombast  ?  Or  is  it,  that  the  passions  of  those  peo- 
ple are  really  stronger,  and  their  climate  more  luxuriant?  Perhaps  all 
these  causes  may  conspire  in  producing  this  effect.  Certain  it  is, 
that  Europe  is  much  indebted,  for  her  style  and  manner  of  compo- 
sition, to  her  ancient  authors,  particularly  to  those  of  Greece,  by 
•whose  example  and  authority  that  simple  and  natural  diction  was 
happily  established,  which  all  our  best  authors  of  succeeding  times 
have  been  ambitious  to  imitate ;  but  whence  those  ancient  Greek 
authors  derived  it,  whether  from  imitating  other  authors,  still  more 
ancient;  or  from  the  operation  of  physical  causes,  or  from  the  na- 
ture of  their  language,  particularly  its  unrivalled  copiousness  and 
flexibility ;  or  from  some  unaccountable  and  peculiar  delicacy  in 
their  taste;  or  from  the  force  of  their  genius,  that,  conscious  of  its 
own  vigour,  despised  all  adventitious  support,  and  all  foi'eign  orna- 
ment— it  is  not  perhaps  easy  to  determine. 

"  The  fourth  edition  of  my  essay  is  now  in  the  press." 


LETTER  LVIIL 

SIR  ADOLPHtrS  OUGHTON*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

London,  3d  November,  IT72. 

"  THOUGH  your  short  stay  at  Edinburgh  put  it  out  of  my 
power  to  cultivate  that  acquaintance  with  you  which  I  wished,  yet, 
as  a  lover  of  truth,  I  cannot  but  be  wannly  interested  in  the  honour 

*  Lieutenant  General  Sir  James  Adolplius  Oughton,  K.  B.  was  the  son  of 
Sir  Adolphus  Oughton,  a  general  officer  in  the  British  army.  He  received  his 
classical  education  on  the  foundation  at  the  Cliarter-house  school,  whence  lie 
was  removed  to  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  When  he  h.ad  finished  his  studies, 
he  entered  into  the  army,  and  served  in  Flanders,  under  die  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land, whom  he  accompanied  to  Scotland,  in  the  memorable  }ear  1746.  In 
the  sev'en  years  war,  he  served  in  Germany,  under  Prince  Ferdinand  of 
Brunswick;  and  during  these  two  wars  was  present  at  most  of  tlie  battles 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  163 

and  welfare  of  its  ablest  champion.  You  will,  therefore,  not  be 
surprised,  that  I  should  take  a  real  pleasure  in  communicating'  to 
you  a  circumstance,  which  has  a  tendency  to  the  promoting  of 
both.  I  was  yesterday  informed,  from  the  very  best  authority,  that 
our  excellent  Sovereign  had  read  your  "  Essay"  with  the  utmost 
attention  and  approbation,  and  expressed  his  intention  of  bestowing 
on  you  some  mark  of  his  royal  favour,  when  a  proper  opportunity 
shall  offer.     Proverbial  sayings,  as  resulting  from  the  experience 

that  were  fought  by  these  two  generals.  In  particular,  at  the  battle  of  Min- 
den,  in  the  year  1759,  he  commanded,  as  lieutenant  colonel,  one  of  the  six 
British  regiments,  which  so  greatly  distinguished  themselves  by  their  gal- 
lantry on  that  celebrated  day.  In  the  interval  between  the  peace  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  and  the  seven  years  war.  Sir  Adolplius's  regiment  being  stationed  in 
Minorca,  he  had  obtained  leave  of  absence  to  make  the  tour  of  Italy;  in  all 
the  principal  parts  of  which  he  spent  some  time,  sufficient  to  cuhivate  and 
Improve  his  taste  for  the  line  arts,  in  the  knowledge  of  which  he  greatly 
excelled.  On  that  occasion,  too,  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  some  British 
travellers  of  high  rank,  who  continued  ever  after  to  honour  him  with  their 
distinguished  notice.  His  talent  for  the  acquisition  of  languages  was  ex- 
traordinary; so  that  he  not  only  knew  those  of  Greece  and  Rome,  as  well  as  of 
France  and  Italy,  but  he  possessed  some  knowledge  of  oi-iental  litei'ature,  and 
was  fond  of  the  study  of  antiquities.  Even  at  an  advanced  period  of  life,  after 
he  settled  here  as  commander  in  chief  of  his  majesty's  forces,  he  applied  him- 
self to  the  study  of  the  Gaelic,  or  ancient  dialect  of  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land :  in  which  he  made  all  the  proficiency  that  could  be  attained,  chiefly  by 
the  help  of  books. 

To  all  these  acquirements  in  knowledge.  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton  added 
the  most  estimable  virtues  of  a  true  Christian,  and  united,  in  no  common 
degree,  the  character  of  the  man  of  piety  with  that  of  the  man  of  the  world. 
Obliged,  by  his  official  situation,  to  live  almost  always  in  the  midst  of  com- 
pany, to  which  he  had  no  dislike.  Sir  Adolphus  displayed  much  hospitality 
at  his  social  board,  yet  always  within  tlie  rules  of  the  strictest  temperance. 
He  was  extremely  polite  in  his  deportment,  and  from  his  great  stock  of  ac- 
quired knowledge,  his  conversation  was  uncommonly  instructive  and  enter- 
taining. In  his  attention  to  all  the  external  observances  ofTeligion,  he  was 
most  exact;  and  I  know  not  that  I  have  ever  felt  more  forcibly  the  power  of 
devotion,  than  when  on  a  Sunday  evening  at  his  house,  in  tlie  neighbourhood 
of  Edinburgh,  collecting  his  guests  ai'ound  him,  I  have  heard  him  read  the 
church-service,  from  the  English  Litui-gy,  with  the  utmost  fervour,  and  most 
graceful  elocution.  I  was,  during  many  years,  honoured,  in  a  particular 
manner,  with  the  friendship  of  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton,  and  I  shall  ever  look 
back,  with  grateful  satisfaction,  and  I  hope  not  without  advantage,  on  the 
many  happy  and  instructive  hours  I  have  passed  in  his  company.  Sir  Adol- 
phus Oughton  died  at  Bath,  14th  April,  1780,  in  liis  60th  year. 


164  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

of  mankind,  and  appealing  to  their  common  sense,  have  generally 
been  received  as  axioms ;  most  sorry  I  am,  that  Regis  ad  exemplum 
can  no  longer  lay  claim  to  it  in  our  country.  It  is  equally  to  be 
lamented,  that,  from  the  nature  of  our  constitution,  and  the  violence 
of  our  parties,  the  King's  power,  even  of  doing  good,  should  in 
many  instances  be  limited,  in  most  obstructed.  Your  labours,  sir^ 
for  the  true  interests  of  mankind,  are  free  and  uncontrolled ;  pursue 
then  the  glorious  task ;  open  the  eyes  and  amend  the  hearts  of  a 
deluded  and  dissipated  people.  Your  generous  efforts  must  neces- 
sarily be  productive  of  much  good ;  and  you  cannot  fail  of  your  re- 
ward, because  it  depends  on  yourself." 


LETTER  LIX, 


THE  LORD  ARCHBISHOP  OF  YORK*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Brodsworth,  September  19th,  1772. 

"  AS  my  brother.  Lord  Kinnoull,  has  lately  communicated 
to  me  your  letter  to  him  of  August  10th,  explaining  your  views, 
which  certainly  have  not  as  yet  been  answered  with  success  cor- 
respondent to  your  talents,  I  desired  him  to  communicate  to  you 
my  thoughts,  which,  at  least,  are  the  thoughts  of  a  real  friend  and 
well-wisher,  who  has  the  highest  esteem  of  your  merit  in  the  cause 
of  truth. 

"  I  doubt  whether  you  would  be  well  suited  with  a  lay-place,  or  a 
pension,  or  a  residence  in  Scotland.  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  the 
ministry  in  the  church  of  England  would  be  the  profession  the 
most  agreeable  to  your  qualifications  and  inclination  :  but  the  pros- 
pect of  fair  profit  in  it  ought  to  be  considered  ;  for  that  is  a  duty  to 
yourself,  and  to  your  family.  Give  me  leave,  too,  to  say,  that 
there  is  2l  prior  duty,  that  is,  to  your  conscience. 

"  Though  I  was  educated  in  the  church  of  England,  yet  I  have 
often  sifted  my  mind  with  sincere  and  impartial  reflection,  and 

•  The  Honourable  and  Most  Reverend  Dr  Robert  Hay  Drummond, 
brother  to  the  Earl  of  Kinnoull. 


LIFE  OF  DR  REATTIE.  165 

with  as  enlarged  views  as  I  could  take  in,  of  the  great  dispensations 
of  the  Deity,  centering  in  Christ.  Upon  the  whole,  I  have  always 
thought,  that  the  church^of  England  is  the  most  agreeable  to 
Christain  doctrine  and  discipline  ;  equally  distant  from  wild  con- 
ceit and  implict  faith  ;  free,  manly,  and  benevolent ;  conducive  to  the 
cause  of  truth  and  virtue,  to  the  happiness  of  society,  and  of  every 
individual  in  it.  And  it  is  the  establishment  that  seems  to  carry 
the  faire  st  aspect  with  it,  towards  promoting  pure  Christianity, 
and  civil  order  ;  without  over-bearing,  or  artful  or  abject  means. 
With  due  Christain  condescension  to  different  opinions  and  modes, 
this  is  the  result  of  frequent  consideration  and  conviction,  and  is  the 
testiinony  of  my  conscience.  If  it  were  otherwise,  I  would  not,  I 
could  not,  in  honour,  retain  even  the  great  emoluments  with  which 
I  am  favoured,  for  another  moment. 

"  It  is  surely  unreasonable  and  unnecessary  to  trouble  you  with 
my  notions.  I  allow  it :  but  this  is  only  a  mode  of  flattering  my- 
self with  the  hopes,  that  yours  are  similar.  If  such  is  your  opinion 
of  the  church  of  England,  and  if  it  is  your  upright  intention  to  ex- 
ercise in  its  ministry  your  most  valuable  abilities  and  knowledge 
for  the  service  of  true  religion,  I  shall  think  your  entry  into  it  a 
happy  acquisition.  And  I  would  endeavour  to  contribute,  as  far 
as  my  scanty  patronage  goes,  or  my  friendship  and  influence  can 
extend,  that  you  should  enter  into  it  with  credit,  and  live  in  it  with 
comfort. 

"  Lord  Kinnoull  has  written  to  Lord  Mansfield,  and  I  shall  talk 
with  him  after  Christmas.  I  shall  not  leave  my  Diocese  till  that 
time.     I  have  written  also  to-day  to  our  friend  Mrs.  Montagu." 


LETTER  LX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  6th  November,  1772. 

"  I  AM  happy  to  find,  that  the  plan  I  have  just  now  in  view 
is  honoured  with  your  approbation.  It  is  the  result  of  the  most  ma- 
ture deliberation  ;  and  I  hope  I  shall  never  have  occasion  to  repent 


166  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

it.  Whether  my  present  views  shall  prove  successful,^  is  a  point 
very  uncertain.  I  shall  endeavour,  by  ncioderating  my  hopes  and 
my  wishes,  to  prepare  myself  for  the  worst. 

"  You  do  too  much  honour  to  the  letter  I  wrote  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  York.  It  contained  nothing  that  could  entertain  you. 
Some  time  or  other  I  shall  give  you,  at  large,  my  opinion  of  the 
matters  contained  in  it ;  for  of  the  letter  itself  I  kept  no  copy.  It 
has  pleased  his  Grace,  and  given  great  satisfaction  to  Lord  Kin- 
noull. 

"  Dr  Gregory  will  shew  you  the  character  of  Rousseau,  as  it  is 
now  finished,  oome  years  ago,  I  should  have  put  more  panegyric 
in  it,  and  less  censure  ;  but  since  that  time,  I  have  had  leisure  to 
examine  some  of  his  theological,  and  some  too  of  his  philosophical 
tenets,  Avhich  has  lov/ered  considerably  my  opinion  of  his  candour 
and  understanding :  but  my  admiration  of  his  talents,  as  an  elo- 
quent and  pathetic  writer,  still  remains  unimpaired  ;  and  I  am 
confident  he  had  originally  that  in  him,  which  might  have  made 
him  one  of  the  greatest  philosophers  in  the  world,  if  his  genius 
had  not  been  perverted  by  the  fashion  of  the  times,  and  by  the  love 
of  paradox.  The  passage  I  allude  to,  where  he  speaks  so  well  of 
the  genius  of  Christianity,  and  the  character  of  its  Divine  Founder, 
is  in  the  creed  of  the  Savoyard  curate,  where  he  draws  a  com- 
parison between  Jesus  Christ  and  Socrates." 


LETTER  LXL 


MRS    MONTAGU    TO    DR    BEATTIE. 


London,  13th  December,  1772. 

"  YOU  ask  me  why  the  eastern  nations  are,  in  their  poetical 
compositions,  so  full  of  glaring  images,  and  exaggerated  meta- 
phors ?  One  reason,  I  presume,  is,  that  they  are  little  addicted  to 
write  or  read  prose.  Fiction  and  bombast  are  called  le  Phcebus,  in 
the  French  language  :  the  marvellous  is  affected  in  poetry  more 
than  in  prose ;  exaggeration  is  a  road  to  the  marvellous.    The  first 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  167 

passage  from  hieroglyphic  representation  to  imitation  by  words, 
must  naturally  be  by  images.  The  Greeks,  by  a  certain  subtilty 
of  parts,  and  the  popular  character  of  the  philosophers,  addicted 
themselves  greatly  to  metaphysics ;  tins  banished  from  the  learned 
the  grosser  images.  They  cultivated  all  the  parts  of  rhetoric ; 
thence  grew  precision,  and  consequently  the  figurative  style  be- 
came less  in  use ;  words  acquired  certain  and  exact  signification  ; 
and  Socrates,  the  best  and  most  modest  of  men,  would  inculcate 
the  maxim,  that  the  gods  hate  impudence,  without  delineating  an 
eagie,  a  crocodile,  a  sea-horse,  and  a  fish,  as  the  Egyptian  sages 
had  done,  to  teach  it.  Many  of  the  high  pompous  and  high  sound- 
ing titles  you  take  notice  of,  as  given  to  eastern  princes,  are  verbal 
translations  of  the  symbols  of  regal  power,  executive  justice,  8cc. 
As  to  Homer,  we  know  little  about  him  ;  he  seems  to  paint  exactly 
from  the  life,  as  ovir  Shakespeare  did,  and  as  the  first-i'ate  geniuses 
will  always  do,  where  there  are  not  established  laws  of  criticism, 
to  which  they  must  bend,  and  Avhich  set  up  a  pattern  and  mode  to 
work  by.  You  will  find  iEschylus  an  hieroglyphical,  symbolical, 
allegorical  writer ;  his  works  smell  of  Egypt,  and  the  mythology 
of  his  country.  Sophocles  saw  that  the  historical  muse  of  Hero- 
dotus was  admired,  he  therefore  takes  a  more  middle  flight  be- 
tween history  and  poetry.  Euripides  finds  his  countrymen  still 
more  refined,  and  is  a  moral  philosopher,  as  well  as  poet.  He 
writes  to  Socrates,  and  the  disciples  of  Socrates.  Something  of  the 
pomp  and  luxury  of  an  Asiatic  poet's  descriptions  certainly  arises 
from  the  wealth  and  plenty  of  his  country,  and  the  display  of  gold 
and  jewels,  and  the  perfumes,  Sec.  in  the  palaces  of  the  great. 
Ossian  exaggerates  only  the  strength  and  valour  of  his  heroes,  and 
the  beauty  of  his  women.  As  poetry  professes  to  please  and  sur- 
prise, it  will  always  embellish  and  magnify.  We  owe  much  to  the 
metaphysical  turn  of  the  Greeks,  for  refining  our  ideas,  and  spiri- 
tualizing them.  While  only  fables  and  panegyrics  were  fabricated 
by  the  poets,  clear,  and  adequate,  and  well-proportioned  phrase 
could  never  be  established.  Obscurity  was  necessary,  exaggeration 
would  be  sought,  and  though  Homer,  who  sung  to  the  distant  pos- 
terity of  Agamemnon,  Sec  was  not  under  a  necessity  of  magnifying 
his  character  beyond  the  ordinary  proportion  of  human  qualities, 
I  dare  say  Agamemnon's  family -bard,  and  tl:e  rest  of  the  heroes' 
poets,  attributed  many  extravagant  exploits  to  them.     As  to  the 


168  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

passions,  I  believe  them  to  be  much  more  violent  in  warm  coun- 
tries ;  and  as  the  Asiatic  hie  is  more  indolent,  the  body  employed 
in  less  motion,  and  the  mind  less  diveited  by  variety  of  objects,  it 
desires  what  it  likes  with  more  vehement  and  uninterrupted  atten- 
tion. These  are  my  random  thoughts  upon  your  questions  ;  but 
as  they  ai'e  merely  my  own,  I  have  no  great  confidence  in  them." 


LETTER   LXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 


Aberdeen,  12th  January,  177o. 

"  IT  gave  me  the  most  sincere  pleasure  to  find,  that  the 
Archbishop  of  York  was  satisfied  with  the  sentiments  expressed 
in  the  letter  I  had  the  honour  to  write  to  him.  His  Grace  sent  my 
letter  to  Lord  Kinnoull,  who  was  pleased  to  write  to  me  on  the  oc- 
casion, and  to  express  his  approbation  in  very  strong  terms.  Con- 
sidering the  turn  that  my  affairs  were  likely  to  take,  I  wished  for 
an  opportunity  of  doing  myself  justice,  by  explaining  my  opinion  of 
the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and  a 
more  favourable  opportunity  could  not  have  been  wished  for,  than 
that  which  his  Grace  was  pleased  to  grant  me.  I  am  much  ho- 
noured by  your  application  in  my  behalf,  to  the  Dutchess  of  Portland, 
and  deeply  sensible  of  the  importance  of  her  Grace's  interest  and 
favourable  opinion. 

"  In  the  new  edition  of  my  "  Essay"  I  have  inserted  a  long 
note,  containing  a  character  of  Rousseau  and  his  writings.  This 
T  did,  by  the  advice  of  Dr  Gregory,  who  told  me, -that  many  per- 
sons, who  wished  me  well,  had  signified  to  him  their  desire  of 
knowing  my  reasons  for  thinking  so  favourably  of  that  philosopher, 
as  to  place  his  name  in  the  same  list  with  Bacon,  Shakespeare,  and 
Montesquieu.  I  was  somewhat  afraid,  lest,  by  bestowing  on  Rous- 
seau those  praises  which  I  think  are  his  due,  I  might  offend  some 
well-meaning  people,  who  had  read  only  those  purts  of  his  works 
that  express  his  dissatisfaction  with  some  parts  of  the  christian 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  169 

doctrine :  and  therefore  when  I  sent  my  criticism  to  Dr  Gregory, 
I  desired  him  to  consider  it  very  seriously,  and,  if  he  thought  it 
wouJd  give  offence  to  any  christian,  or  tend  to  embroil  me  in  con- 
troversy, to  suppress  it  altogether.  But  instead  of  suppressing,  he 
forwarded  it  to  the  printer,  and  afterwards  wrote  to  me  that  he  en- 
tirely approved  of  it.  I  long  to  know  your  opinion  of  this  note  ; 
and  have  therefore  desired  Mr  Dilly  to  send  you  the  book  ;  you 
will  find  it  at  the  437th  page.  There  is  at  page  330,  a  ludicrous 
note,  intended  to  expose  some  of  Voltaire's  reasonings  on  the  sub- 
ject of  necessity.  These  are  the  only  additions  of  any  consequence 
that  are  made  to  this  new  impression. 

"  Mr  Dilly  will  also  send  you  a  copy  of  this  book,  addressed  to 
Mrs  Carter,  which  I  must  beg,  madam,  you  will  take  the  trouble  to 
forward  to  her,  with  some  apology,  to  make  it  acceptable.  It  is  a 
tribute  of  respect  and  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  her  extraordinary 
genius  and  virtue,  and  to  the  pleasure  and  instruction  I  have 
received  from  her  writings. 

"  I  am  greatly  delighted  with  your  account  of  the  causes,  that 
produced  the  striking  diversity,  which  appears  in  the  poetical  style 
of  Greece  arid  of  modern  Europe,  compared  with  the  style  com- 
monly called  oriental.  You  have,  in  my  opinion,  fully  accounted 
for  this  diversity.  It  is  great  pity  we  know  so  little  of  Homer's 
history,  and  of  the  state  of  Grecian  literature  before  his  time.  It 
appears  to  me,  that  the  records  of  Greece  have  never  gone  far 
beyond  the  Trojan  war ;  for  it  is  observable,  that  most  of  Homer's 
heroes  are  descended  from  Jupiter,  in  the  third  or  fourth  degree 
only  ;  in  other  words,  that  they  could  not  trace  their  genealogy 
higher  than  the  third  or  fourth  generation  :  which  is  a  proof,  or  at 
least  a  presumption,  that  they  wanted  letters,  and  had  but  lately 
emerged  from  barbarity.  Horace  makes  the  contemporaries  of 
Orpheus  and  Amphionto  have  been  perfect  savages,  till  humanized 
by  the  charms  of  poetry  and  music  :  but  perhaps  he  spoke  only 
from  conjectures,  gathered  out  of  the  fables  of  those  ancient  times. 
If  those  conjectures  be  just ;  if  the  Greeks  were  really  in  a  state  of 
barbarity  and  ignorance,  so  late  as  the  third  or  fourth  generation 
before  the  Trojan  war  ;  it  is  a  matter  of  astonishment,  that,  in 
Homer's  time,  (about  150  years  after  that  war)  their  language 
should  be  so  copious,  so  regular,  so  harmonious,  so  subtle,  in  the 
discrimination  of  thought,  and  so  wonderfully  diversified  in  its  in- 

Y 


iro  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

flexions.  If  wc  did  not  know  the  thing  to  be  impossible,  we  should 
be  tempted  to  think  that  the  Greek  language  must  have  been  the 
invention  of  philosophers :  if  it  arose,  like  other  languages,  from 
vulgar  and  accidental  use,  and  yet  came,  in  so  short  time,  to  such 
perfection,  we  cannot  help  thinking,  that  the  Greeks  had  received 
from  nature,  superior  force  of  genius,  and  delicacy  of  taste  ;  and 
that  Horace  spoke  as  a  philosopher,  as  well  as  a  poet,  when  he  said 
Gratis  ingenium^  Gratis  dedit  ore  rotunda  musa  loqid." 


The  following  letter  was  written  in  reply  to  one  from  me,  in 
which  I  informed  Dr  Beattie  of  the  death  of  our  common  friend, 
Dr  Gregory.  It  is  expressive  of  the  tenderest  grief,  at  the  same 
time  full  of  the  most  pious  sentiments  of  resignation  to  Divine 
Providence  on  the  occasion,  which,  under  all  the  calamities  that 
befel  him  through  life,  was  his  chief  support,  and  siu'est  conso- 
lation. 


LETTER  LXIII. 


»R  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen  J  13th  February,  1773. 

"  I  AM  deeply  sensible  of  your  goodness,  in  communicating  to 
me,  in  so  tender  and  soothing  a  manner,  the  news  of  a  misfortune, 
which  is  indeed  one  of  the  severest  I  have  ever  felt.  For  these 
two  months  past  my  spirits  have  been  unusually  depressed,  so  that 
I  am  but  ill  prepared  for  so  terrible  a  stroke.  Of  the  loss  M'hich 
society,  and  which  his  family  have  received ;  of  the  incomparable 
loss  which  I  sustain,  by  the  death  of  this  excellent  person,  I  can 
say  nothing ;  my  heart  is  too  full,  and  I  have  not  yet  recovered 
myself  so  far,  as  to  think  or  speak  coherently,  on  this,  or  any  other 
subject. 

"  You  justly  observe,  that  his  friends  may  derive  no  smal! 
consolation,  from  the  circumstance  of  his  death  having  been  with- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  171 

out  pain,*  and  from  the  well-grounded  hope  we  may  entertain,  of 
his  having  made  a  happy  change.  But  I  find  I  cannot  proceed  ;  I 
thought  I  should  have  been  able  to  give  you  some  of  my  thoughts 
on  this  occasion  ;  but  the  subject  overpowers  me.  Write  to  me 
as  soon,  and  as  fully  as  you  can,  of  the  situation  of  his  family,  and 
whatever  you  may  think  I  would  wish  to  know.  I  shall  endeavour 
to  follow  your  kind  advice,  and  to  reconcile  myself  to  this  great 
affliction,  as  much  as  I  am  able.  My  reason,  I  trust,  is  fully  recon- 
ciled :  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  every  dispensation  of  Provi- 
dence is  wise  and  good ;  and  that  by  making  a  proper  improvement 
of  the  evils  of  this  life,  we  may  convert  them  all  into  blessings.  It 
becomes  us  therefore  to  adore  the  Supreme  Benefactor,  when  he 
takes  away,  as  well  as  when  he  gives  ;  for  He  is  wise  and  bene- 
ficent in  both." 


LETTER  LXIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  3d  May,  1773. 

"  I  HAVE  just  now  finished  the  business  of  a  melancholy 
winter.  When  I  wrote  to  you  last,  which  was  in  January,  my 
health  and  spirits  Avere  in  a  very  low  state-  In  this  condition,  the 
unexpected  death  of  the  best  of  men,  and  of  friends,  came  upon 
me  with  a  weight,  which  at  any  time  I  should  have  thought  almost 
unsupportable,  but  which,  at  that  time,  was  afflicting  to  a  degree 
M'hich  human  abilities  alone  could  never  have  endured.  But  Provi- 
dence, ever  beneficent  and  gracious,  has  supported  me  under  this 
heavy  dispensation  ;  and  I  hope,  I  shall  in  time  be  enabled  to  re- 
view it,  even  with  that  cheerful  submission,  which  becomes  a  chris- 
tian, and  which  none  but  a  christian  can  entertain.  I  have  a  thou- 
sand things  to  say  on  this  most  affecting  subject ;  but  for  your 
sake,  madam,  and  for  my  own,  I  shall  not,  at  present,  enter  upon 
them.  Nobody  can  be  more  sensible  than  you  are,  of  the  irrepara- 
ble loss,  which  not  only  his  own  family  and  friends,  but  which  so- 

•  He  was  found  dead  in  bed,  probably  from  an  attack  of  the  g'out,  to 
which  he  was  subject. 


172  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

ciety  in  general,  sustains  by  the  loss  of  this  excellent  person  :  and 
I  need  not  tell  you,  for  of  this  too  I  know  you  are  sensible,  that  of 
all  his  friends,  (his  own  family  excepted)  none  has  so  much  cause 
of  sorrow,  on  this  occasion,  as  I.  I  should  never  have  done,  if  I 
were  to  enter  into  the  particulars  of  his  kindness  to  me.  For  these 
many  years  past,  I  have  had  the  happiness  to  be  of  his  intimate 
acquaintance.  He  took  part  in  all  my  concerns;  and,  as  I  conceal- 
ed nothing  from  him,  he  knew  my  heart  and  my  character  as  well 
as  I  myself  did ;  only  the  partiality  of  his  friendship  made  him 
think  more  favourably  of  me  than  I  deserved.  In  all  my  difficul- 
ties, I  applied  to  him  for  advice  and  comfort,  both  which  he  had 
the  art  of  communicating  in  such  a  way  as  never  failed  to  compose 
and  strengthen  my  mind.  His  zeal  in  promoting  my  interest  and 
reputation  is  very  generally  known.  In  a  word,  (for  I  must  endea- 
vour to  quit  a  subject,  which  will  long  be  oppressive  to  my  heart) 
my  inward  quiet,  and  external  prosperity,  were  objects  of  his  par- 
ticular and  unwearied  care  ;  and  he  never  missed  any  opportunity 
of  promoting  both,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  I  wrote  to  his  son 
soon  after  the  fatal  event ;  and  have  had  the  comfort  to  hear  from 
several  hands,  that  he,  and  his  sisters,  and  the  whole  family,  be- 
have with  a  pi'opriety  that  charms  every  body.  In  continuing  his 
father's  lectures,  he  acquits  himself  to  universal  satisfaction." 


LETTER  LXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  21st  April,  1773. 

"  A  BOOK  has  been  lately  published,  which  makes  no  little 
noise  in  this  country.  It  is  an  Essay  on  the  Origin  and  Progress 
of  Language  ;  the  author  is  Mr  Burnet  of  Monboddo,*  one  of  our 
Lords  of  the  Session,  a  man  of  great  learning,  but  rather  too  much 
devoted  to  Greek  literature,  particularly  the  Peripatetic  philosophy. 
In  the  first  part  of  his  work,  he  gives  a  very  learned,  elaborate,  and 
abstruse  account  of  the  origin  of  ideas,  according  to  the  metaphy- 

*  Seep,  ir 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  173 

sic  of  Plato,  and  the  commentators  upon  Aristotle.  He  then  treats 
of  the  origin  of  human  society,  and  of  language,  (which  he  con- 
siders as  a  human  invention)  in  the  way  in  which  many  of  our  fa- 
shionable philosophers  have  treated  of  them  of  late  ;  representing 
men  as  having  originally  been,  and  continued  for  many  ages  to  be, 
no  better  than  beasts,  and  indeed  in  many  respects  worse ;  destitute 
of  speech,  of  reason,  of  conscience,  of  social  affection,  and  of  every 
thing  that  can  confer  dignity  upon  a  creature,  and  possessed  of  no- 
thing but  external  sense  and  memory,  and  a  capacity  of  improve- 
ment. The  system  is  not  a  new  one  :  it  is  borrowed  (whatever 
these  philosophers  may  pretend)  from  Epicurus,  or  rather  from 
Lucretius,  of  whose  account  of  it,  Horace  gives  a  pretty  exact 
abridgment,  in  these  lines  :  "  Cum  prorepserunt  primis  anamalia 
"  terris,  mutum  et  turpe  pecus.  See."  which  Lord  Monboddo  takes 
for  his  motto,  and  which,  he  says,  comprehend  in  miniature  the 
whole  history  of  man.  In  regard  to  facts  that  make  for  his  system 
(all  which  our  author  sees  with  microscopical  eyes)  he  is  amazingly 
credulous,  and  equally  blind  and  sceptical,  in  regard  to  every  fact 
of  an  opposite  tendency.  He  professes  a  regard  for  the  scripture, 
and  I  believe  means  it  no  harm  ;  but  his  system  cannot  possibly 
be  reconciled  to  it.  In  a  word,  he  has  gone  further  in  brutifyin"- 
human  nature,  than  any  author,  ancient  or  modern.  Yet  there  are 
many  curious  and  good  things  in  his  book.  I  have  been  entertain- 
ed, and  sometimes  instructed  by  it ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  and 
in  spite  of  my  regard  for  the  author,  who  is  truly  a  worthy  man, 
and  to  whom  I  am  under  particular  obligations,  I  take  it  \ip  as  a 
task,  and  can  never  read  above  half  an  hour  in  it  at  a  time ;  so  odious, 
so  fdthy,  is  the  picture  he  gives  of  the  nature  of  man.  It  pains  and 
shocks  me,  as  if  I  were  witnessing  the  dissection  of  a  putrid  car- 
cass. It  is,  however,  a  book,  which  I  believe  Avill  do  little  hurt ; 
for  the  vulgar  it  is  too  abstruse,  and  too  learned  :  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  readers  will  be  moved  rather  to  laughter  than  to  convic- 
tion, when  they  hear  him  assert,  which  he  does  with  the  utmost 
confidence  and  gravity,  that  the  Ourang-Outangs  are  of  our  spe- 
cies ;  that  in  the  bay  of  Bengal  exists  a  nation  of  human  creatures 
with  tails,  discovered  130  years  ago,  by  a  Swedish  Skipper;  that 
the  beavers  and  sea-cats  are  social  and  political  animals,  though 
man  by  nature  is  neither  social  nor  political,  nor  even  rational ; 
reason,  reflection,  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  society,  policy,  and 


174  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

even  thought,  being-,  in  the  human  species,  according  to  this  au- 
thor, as  much  the  effects  of  art,  contrivance,  and  long  experience, 
as  writing,  ship-building,  or  any  other  manufacture. 

*'  Some  years  ago,  I  wrote  a  small  treatise  in  Latin,  on  a  sub- 
ject similar  to  this  of  Lord  Monboddo's,  but  the  conclusions  I  drew 
were  widely  different.  From  the  nature  of  language,  I  proved,  to 
my  own  satisfaction  at  least,  that  if  men  had  ever  been  a  mutum  et 
turfie  fiecus,  they  must,  without  supernatural  assistance,  have  con- 
tinued so  to  this  day  ;  that  therefore  man,  in  all  ages  from  the  be- 
ginning, must  have  been  a  speaking  animal  ;  that  the  first  man 
must  have  received  the  divine  gift  of  language  from  God  himself, 
by  inspiration  ;  and  that  the  children  of  our  first  parents,  and  their 
descendants  to  the  present  time,  must  have  learned  to  speak  by  imi- 
tation and  instruction.  And  for  the  smaller  diversities  in  kindred 
languages,  (such  as  those  which  took  place  in  the  French  language, 
for  instance,  compared  with  the  Italian  and  Spanish)  I  would  ac- 
count from  the  revolutions  of  human  affairs,  and  the  tendency  of 
language  to  alteration  ;  and  for  the  greater  diversities,  (such  as 
those  that  appear  in  the  European  languages,  compared  with  those 
of  China,  America,  Sec.)  I  would  account  from  the  confusion  of 
Babel ;  nor  do  I  think  it  possible  to  account  for  them  satisfactorily 
in  any  other  way." 


In  several  of  Dr  Beattie's  letters  at  this  time,  he  had  mentioned 
his  intention  of  undertaking  a  journey  to  England;  the  cause  he 
chiefly  assigned  was  the  broken  state  of  his  constitution,  which  he 
hoped,  on  the  authority  of  his  friend  and  physician,  the  late  Dr 
Gregory,  would  be  improved  by  the  exercise  of  travelling. 

In  pursuance  of  his  intention,  Dr  Beattie  set  out  from  Aber- 
deen, in  the  end  of  April,  for  London,  accompanied  by  Mrs  Beattie. 
And  after  paying  a  visit  of  two  days  to  the  Earl  of  Kinnoull,*  at 
Dupplin-Castle,  in  Perthshire,  he  arrived  in  Edinburgh. 

Dr  Beattie  now  communicated  to  me  all  the  motives  of  his 
joumey  to  London,  which,  besides  the  recovery  of  his  health,  and 
the  paying  a  visit  to  his  friends  there,  had  a  still  farther  object  in 

•  The  elder  brother  of  the  Honourable  and  Most  Reverend  Robert  Hay 
Drummond,  at  that  time  Lord  Archbishop  of  York. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  175 

view.  So  early  as  his  former  visit  to  London,  in  the  year  1771,  his 
English  friends  had  formed  an  anxious  wish,  that  some  attempt 
should  be  made  to  procure  for  him  a  permanent  provision  or  esta- 
blishment. His  fame,  indeed,  as  an  exquisite  poet,  and  an  eloquent 
as  well  as  energetic  philosophical  writer,  was  considerable.  He 
had  been  honoured,  also,  with  the  friendship  of  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  characters,  both  for  rank  in  life,  as  well  as  reputation 
in  the  republic  of  letters.  But  except  the  very  trifling  sums,  which 
he  had  received  from  the  booksellers,  for  his  "  Essay  on  Truth," 
and  his  "  Minstrel,"  so  trifling  as  scarcely  to  be  worth  mentioning, 
he  remained  with  no  other  property  or  provision  for  the  support  of 
his  family,  than  the  very  moderate  emoluments  arising  from  his 
professorship  of  moral  philosophy,  in  the  university  of  Aberdeen. 
His  friends  had  likewise  reason  to  believe,  that  neither  Dr  Beattie's 
name,  nor  his  merits  as  a  distinguished  writer  in  the  cause  of  truth, 
were  altogether  unknown  to  the  King,  whose  love  of  literature,  and 
marked  attention  to  every  thing  that  could  promote  the  best  in- 
terests of  religion  and  virtue,  it  was  hoped,  might  procure  for  Dr 
Beattie  some  substantial  proof  of  his  majesty's  regard.  And,  in 
fact,  the  King  had  been  pleased  not  only  to  express  his  approbation 
of  the  works  which  Dr  Beattie  had  published,  but  had  even  signi- 
fied his  intention  of  conferring  on  the  author  some  mark  of  his 
royal  favour. 

In  consequence  of  these  flattering  symptoms  of  success,  in  a 
pursuit  so  interesting  to  himself  and  his  family,  his  friends  in 
England  had  urged  his  coming  to  London  without  delay,  and 
bringing  with  him  such  letters  of  introduction  to  those  in  power,  as 
were  most  likely  to  be  of  use. 

By  Lord  KinnouU  he  had  been  made  known  to  his  brother,  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  and  to  Lord  Mansfield,  who  were  both  of  them 
much  disposed  to  serve  him.  And  from  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton, 
Dr  Beattie  received,  as  he  passed  through  Edinburgh,  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  at  that  time  secretary  of 
state  for  the  colonies,  with  whom  Sir  Adolphus  was  intimately  ac- 
quainted, and  who  afterwards  much  contributed  to  Dr  Beattie's 
success. 

On  his  arrival  in  London,  in  the  beginning  of  May  1773,  he 
hastened  to  wait  on  those  friends  to  whom  he  had  become  known 
during  his  former  residence  there,  and  by  whom  he  Avas  again  re- 


176  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

ceived  with  much  cordiality.  Mrs  Montagu,  in  particular,  entered 
eagerly  into  his  interests,  and  pointed  out  to  him,  what,  in  her  opi- 
nion, was  the  most  proper  mode  of  proceeding,  in  order  to  have  his 
case  brought  under  his  Majesty's  immediate  notice.  Among  others, 
he  failed  not  to  pay  an  early  visit  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  in  order  to 
deliver  the  letter  he  had  brought  from  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton. 
He  experienced  the  most  friendly  reception  from  that  nobleman, 
who  paid  him  many  compliments,  extolled  the  candour  with  which 
his  book  was  written,  and  said,  that  no  book,  published  in  his  time, 
had  been  more  generally  read,  or  more  approved  of.  Lord  Dart- 
mouth told  him  of  the  King's  good-will  towai'ds  him,  and  that  Lord 
North*  was  his  friend.  He  said  he  would  mention  his  business  to 
Lord  North,  and  that  perhaps  an  opportunity  might  offer,  of  letting 
the  King  know  that  he  was  in  London.  He  promised,  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  acquaint  him  with  the  result,  f 

Lord  Dartmouth  failed  not  to  perform  his  promise,  and  in  no 
long  time  sent  him  notice  that  Lord  North  would  be  glad  to  see 
him.  Dr  Beattie  accordingly  waited  on  the  minister,  and  was  very 
politely  received.  Lord  North  told  him,  the  King  had  read  his 
book,  and  approved  it,  and  that  he  would  take  an  early  opportunity 
of  letting  his  Majesty  know  that  he  was  in  London. | 

In  deliberating  on  the  most  probable  mode  by  which  some  pro- 
vision from  government  might  be  obtained  for  him,  various  schemes 
had  been  suggested  by  his  friends.    By  some  it  had  been  proposed 

•  At  that  time  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  and  prime  minister  of  Great 
Britain ;  an  office  which  he  held  for  twelve  years,  and  during  the  arduous 
and  eventful  period  of  the  American  war. 

f  I  am  enabled  to  give  a  circumstantial  and  exact  account  of  every  thing 
that  took  place,  respecting  Dr  Beattie's  obtaining  his  pension  from  the  King, 
by  having  found  among  his  papers  a  very  curious  and  interesting  Diary, 
which  he  had  kept  of  the  occurrences  of  this  journey  to  London,  from  the 
time  of  his  arrival  there,  to  tlie  date  of  his  return  home ;  in  which  he  has 
recorded,  with  scrupulous  fidelity,  every  event  of  any  moment  tliat  befel  him. 
Every  visit  of  any  consequence,  which  he  paid  or  received,  every  person  of 
any  note  whom  he  met  with,  he  has  mentioned ;  and  even  many  conversa- 
tions at  which  he  was  present,  or  in  which  he  bore  a  part,  he  has  recorded 
in  the  form  of  dialogue.  It  were  tedious  to  insert  the  whole  of  the  Diary. 
But  I  shall  occasionally  avail  myself  of  it. 

I  MS.  Diary,  21st  May,  1773. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  177 

that  he  should  take  orders,  and  go  into  the  Church  of  England,  for 
which  his  habits  of  study  had  been  by  no  means  ill-suited,  as  he 
had  originally  attended  the  lectures  of  the  professor  of  divinity, 
when  at  the  university  ;  and,  at  one  time,  he  seems  to  have  been 
not  altogether  averse  from  such  a  plan.  His  reasons  for  abandon- 
ing all  ideas  of  that  nature,  however,  will  be  seen  in  a  subsequent 
letter.  By  others  of  his  friends  it  was  hoped,  that  he  might  obtain 
some  civil  appointment,  suited  to  his  talents,  or,  if  not,  some  sine- 
cure-office, of  which  there  are  many,  in  the  West-Indies,  the  duties 
of  which  are  discharged  by  a  deputy  on  the  spot,  while  a  certain 
fixed  salary  or  emolument  remains  with  the  principal  at  home. 
But  at  last,  it  was  resolved,  on  the  suggestion  of  the  Archbishop  of 
York,  with  the  approbation  of  his  other  friends,  that  a  memorial 
should  be  draAvn  up,  expressing  his  services,  his  wants,  and  his 
wishes,  which  paper  was  to  be  laid  before  the  King.  This  memo- 
rial he  transmitted  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  by  whom  it  was  presented 
to  his  Majesty,  who  on  that,  as  on  other  occasions,  expressed  him- 
self in  terms  of  high  approbation  in  regard  to  him,  and  his  writings, 
and  desired  to  see  him.* 

In  consequence  of  this  gracious  intimation.  Lord  Dartmouth 
undertook  to  carry  him  to  the  levee  at  St  James's,  and  present  him 
to  the  King. 

While  Dr  Beattie  was  thus  waiting,  with  the  hope  of  experi- 
encing some  more  substantial  mark  of  royal  favour,  than  bare  ap- 
probation, he  continued  to  receive  every  possible  proof  of  the  kind- 
ness and  attachment  of  his  private  friends  ;  the  number  of  whom 
daily  encreased,  as  the  circle  of  society,  in  which  he  moved, 
became  more  extensive.! 

*  MS.  Diary,  12th  June,  1773. 

t  Among  those  who  most  eminently  distinguished  him  by  their  politeness 
and  attention,  he  could  reckon  Mrs  Montagu,  Lord  Lyttelton,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  Lord  Mansfield,  the  Dutchess- 
dovvager  of  Portland,  Sir  William  and  Lady  Mayne,  (afterwards  Lord  and 
Lady  Newhaven)  Lord  Carysfort,  Dr  Porteus,  now  Bishop  of  London,  Dr 
Markham,  at  that  time  Bishop  of  Chester,  now  Arclibishop  of  York,  Dr 
Percy,  now  Bishop  of  Dromore,  Dr  Moss,  Bishop  of  St  Davids,  the  Bishop 
of  Bristol,  Lord  Dartry,  Dr  Parker,  Rector  of  St  James's,  Dr  HaUfax, 
Professor  of  Law  at  Cambridge,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  (Dr  Corn- 
wallis)  Dr  Moore,  at  that  time  Dean  of  Canterbury,  afterward  himself 

z 


178  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

From  all  of  these  he  received  the  warmest  commendations  of 
his  principles  and  his  writings,  as  well  as  of  his  zealous  efforts  in 
the  c:mse  of  virtue  and  religion.*  Nor  were  they  merely  the  slight 
and  ordinary  marks  of  formal  acquaintance,  that  he  received  from 
so  many  persons  of  distinguished  eminence.  By  many  of  those 
whom  I  have  named,  his  society  was  eagerly  sought  for;  and  at 
the  Dutchess-dowager  of  Portland's  house,  at  Bulstrode,t  at  Sir 
William  Mayne's,  at  Arno's  Grove,  and  at  Mrs  Montagu's  at  San- 
dleford-Priory,  Mrs  Beattie  and  he  spent  occasionally  some  days  ; 
while  they  were  prevenu  d  from  accepting  similar  invitations  from 
other  friends,  by  his  judging  it  proper  to  continue  in  London,  until 
the  fate  of  his  application  to  the  King  was  decided.^  In  short,  I 
believe,  I  should  not  hazard  much,  were  I  to  affirm,  that  it  is  with- 
out a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  literature,  that  an  author  almost 
totally  a  stranger  in  England,  as  Dr  Beattie  was,  should,  in  less 
than  the  space  of  two  years  after  the  appearance  of  his  "  Essay  on 

Lord  Archbishop;  Dr  Douglas,  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  Sylvester  Douglas, 
now  Lord  Glenbervie,  Dr  Hurd,  the  present  Bishop  of  Worcester,  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  Sir  John  Pringle,  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  Mr  Ed- 
mund Burke,  Mr  Garrick,  Dr  Samuel  Johnson,  Mr  Cumberland,  Mr  and 
Mrs  Vesey,  Mr  Langlon,  Mrs  Carter,  Mr  John  Hunter,  Dr  Majcndle,  Dr 
Goldsmitli,  Mr  Hawkins  Browne. 

*  MS.  Diary,  passim. 

•j-  Lady  Margaret  Cavendish  Harley,  only  daughter  and  heiress  of  Ed- 
ward, Earl  of  Oxford  and  Mortimer,  by  his  wife  the  Lady  Heni-ietta  Caven- 
dish, the  only  daughter  and  Iieiress  of  John  Holies,  Duke  of  Newcastle. 
She  inherited  from  her  father  a  noble  estate,  and  lived,  with  splendid  hospi- 
tality, at  Bulstrode,  in  Buckinghamshire,  which  was  the  resort,  not  only  of 
persons  of  the  highest  rank,  but  of  those  most  distinguished  for  talents  and 
eminence  in  the  literary  world.  To  the  Dutcliess-dowager  of  Portland,  pos- 
terity will  ever  be  indebted,  for  securing  to  the  public  tlie  inestimable  trea- 
sures of  learning,  contained  in  the  noble  MS.  library  of  her  fiather  and  grand- 
father. Earls  of  Oxford,  now  deposited  in  the  British  Museum,  by  the 
authority  of  Parliament,  under  tlie  guardianship  of  the  most  distinguisiied 
persons  of  the  realm,  easy  of  access,  and  consequently  of  real  use,  to  tlic 
philosopher,  the  statesman,  the  historian,  the  scholar,  as  well  as  the  artist 
and  mechanic* 

\  MS.  Diary,  passim. 

*  Introduction  to  Astlc's  Origin  and  Progress  of  Writing,  p.  xsi. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  179 

"  Truth,"  and  his  poem  of  the  "  Minstrel,"  emerge,  from  the  ob- 
scurity of  his  situation  in  a  provincial  town  in  the  north  of  Scotland, 
into  such  general  and  distinguished  celebrity,  without  the  aid  of 
party-spirit,  or  political  faction,  or  any  other  influence  than  what 
arose  from  the  merit  of  these  two  publications,  which  first  brought 
him  into  notice,  and  his  agreeable  conversation,  and  unassuming 
manners,  which  secured  to  him  the  love  of  all  to  whom  he  became 
personally  knoAvn. 

Nor  must  I  omit  some  still  more  substantial  and  flattering 
marks  of  friendship,  which  he  has  gratefully  recorded  in  his  Diary. 
Mrs  Montagu,  when  speaking  of  the  object  of  his  journey  to 
London,  told  him  in  very  explicit,  though  delicate  terms,  that  if 
government  did  nothing,  she  would  herself  claim  the  honour  of 
rendering  his  situation  in  life  more  comfortable.*  To  this  instance 
of  generosity  and  friendship,  he  told  her,  he  did  not  know  what 
other  answer  to  give,  except  that  he  did,  and  ever  should,  entertain 
a  proper  sense  of  it. 

Not  long  after,  he  received  a  most  unexpected,  and  still  more 
exalted,  mark  of  favour  from  her  Majesty,  to  whom  Dr  Beattie  had 
been  mentioned  by  Dr  Majendie,t  at  the  desii'e  of  Lady  Mayne, 
although  altogether  without  his  knovv^ledge.  The  Queen  was 
pleased  to  express  to  Dr  Majendie  her  high  approbation  of  Dr 
Beattie  and  his  writings,  wishing  that  it  were  in  her  power  to  do 
him  a  favour,  and  desired  Dr  Majendie  to  ask  him,  whether  he 
would  be  willing  to  receive  some  present  from  her  Majesty. 
After  expressing  to  Dr  Majendie  the  high  sense  of  the  honour  her 
Majesty  had  done  him,  and  of  the  favour  she  meant  to  confer,  Dr 
Beattie  informed  him  of  the  applications  that  had  been  made  by  his 
friends,  to  procure  for  him  a  pension  from  the  King ;  and  con- 
cluded, by  desiring  him  to  let  the  Queen  know,  that  he  would,  with 
the  utmost  gratitude,  receive  any  mark  of  favour  she  should  be 
pleased  to  bestow;  but  that  he  was  in  hopes  of  receiving  some  pro- 
vision from  the  King,  in  which  case  he  should  not  wish  to  encroach 
on  her  Majesty's  bounty.  If,  however,  his  application  to  the  crown 

•  MS.  Diary,  21st  May,  1773. 

f  Prebendai-y  of  Worcester,  who  had  at  that  tune  the  honour  of  being- 
instructor  to  the  Qiieen,  in  the  English  and  French  languages  ; — tlie  father 
of  tlie  present  Lord  Bishop  of  Chester. 


180  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

should  prove  unsuccessful,  any  mark  of  the  Queen's  favour  would 
be  most  acceptable.*  From  Dr  Majendie  he  afterwards  learned, 
that  the  Doctor  had  related  to  the  Queen  what  had  passed ;  with 
which  her  Majesty  expressed  herself  extremely  Avell-pleased ;  and 
said,  the  manner  in  which  Dr  Beattie  had  declined  her  offer,  was  a 
proof  of  his  discretion,  and  that  she  had  a  still  better  opinion  of  him 
on  that  account.  She  added,  that  she  would  take  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  speak  of  him  to  the  King ;  and,  further,  desired  Dr  Ma- 
jendie to  tell  him,  that  she  had  read  his  book  with  great  attention, 
that  she  highly  approved  of  it,  and  had  several  times  conversed 
upon  it  with  the  King.f 

He  has  also  recorded  another  instance  of  munificence.  The 
Dutchess  of  Portland,  while  he  was  on  a  visit  at  Bulstrode,  desired 
to  speak  with  him  in  private,  dnd  after  regretting  the  expence  to 
which  this  journey  to  England  must  have  subjected  him,  requested, 
in  the  frankest  manner,  that  he  would  accept,  of  what  she  called  a 
trifle,  of  one  hundred  pounds,  in  bank  notes,  which  she  held  in  her 
hand.  He  was  greatly  disconcerted,  he  adds,  by  such  an  extraor- 
dinary instance  of  generosity.  But  he  declined  to  accept  of  her 
Grace's  present,  in  a  manner,  as  she  Avas  pleased  to  say,  which 
gave  her  a  very  favourable  opinion  of  him,  and  a  very  high  idea  of 
the  liberality  of  his  sentiments.  He  endeavoured  to  explain  to  her, 
that  by  frugality  at  home,  and  the  price  he  had  received  for  his 
writings,  he  had  saved  as  much  money,  as  would  serve  to  defray 
the  expence  of  this  expedition;  adding,  at  the  same  time,  the  pro- 
bability of  his  soon  receiving  some  encrease  of  income  from 
government.:!: 

It  will  not  be  matter  of  wonder,  that  Dr  Beattie  should  feel 
himself  highly  gratified,  as  well  as  flattered,  by  such  eminent  proofs 
of  distinguished  favour;  a  sentiment  naturally  encreased  by  the 
very  gracious  reception  he  experienced  from  his  Majesty,  to  whom 
he  was  presented  by  Lord  Dartmouth,  at  the  levee,  where  he  had 
the  honour  of  kissing  the  King's  hand.  His  Majesty  spoke  to  him 
for  four  or  five  minutes  with  the  most  polite  and  cheerful  affa- 
bility ;  told  him  he  had  read  his  book,  and  approved  of  it  greatly,  as 
a  work  that  was  much  wanted,  and  surely  would  do  a  great  deal  of 

•  MS.  Diaiy,  13th  June,  1773.  f  MS.  Diary,  15th  June,  1773. 

t  MS.  Diary,  28th  June,  1773. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  181 

good:  enquired  how  long  time  it  cost  him  to  compose  it,  and  was 
pleased  to  say,  that  what  he  greatly  admired  in  it,  was  the  plain- 
ness and  perspicuity  of  the  reasoning,  which  must  make  it  intelli- 
gible to  every  body,  and  which  seemed  to  be  perfectly  unanswer-< 
able.  The  King  repeated  what  he  had  said  to  Lord  Dartmouth, 
who  stood  by,  and  who  heartily  joined  in  the  same  sentiments. 
His  Majesty  then  asked,  if  any  body  had  ever  attempted  to  answer 
it ;  and  on  being  told,  that  some  anonymous  writers  had  attacked 
it  in  the  newspapers,  and  had  abused  him  on  account  of  his  book, 
he  said,  that  such  abuse  did  honour  to  him  and  his  work.  Here 
the  conversation  ended.  The  levee  was  exceedingly  crowded, 
which  made  it  the  more  gratifying  to  him,  that  the  King  should 
honour  him  with  so  long  a  conference.* 

Dr  Beattie  was  afterwards  to  have  been  presented  to  the  Queen, 
and  several  days  were  fixed  on  between  Lord  Dartmouth  and  him 
for  that  purpose  ;  but  it  so  happened,  that  on  these  days,  the  Queen 
held  no  drawing-room,  and  the  presentation  did  not,  at  this  lime, 
take  place. 

Not  a  hint  was  dropped,  however,  at  this  time  of  his  pi'esenta- 
tion,  by  the  King,  or  by  Lord  North,  who  was  at  the  levee,  and 
spoke  to  Dr  Beattie,  of  any  intention  of  making  some  provision  for 
him.  But  on  the  day  following,  he  learned.,  with  no  small  satis- 
faction, from  Dr  Majendie,  that  the  Queen  had  informed  him,  that 
she  knew  it  to  be  the  King's  resolution,  to  confer  on  him  a  pension 
of  two  hundred  pounds  a-year,  but  no  notice  was  to  be  taken  of  this, 
until  it  should  be  announced  to  him  in  a  regular  form  by  the 
minister. 

While  he  thus  waited  with  a  very  excusable  degree  of  anxiety 
for  the  fulfilment  of  this  expectation,  he  received  a  mark  of  pub- 
lic approbation,  of  a  very  pleasing  nature,  by  an  honorary  degree 
of  doctor  of  laws  being  conferred  on  him  by  the  university  of  Ox- 
ford. The  first  idea  of  his  receiving  this  honour  had  been 
suggested  to  him  by  Mr  Peckard,  a  clergyman,  with  whom  he  had 
become  acquainted  at  Dr  Porteus's  house  at  Lambeth,  and  who 
proposed  to  mention  the  matter  to  Dr  Markbam,  Bishop  of  Chester 
and  Dean  of  Christ-Church.f 

*  MS.  Diary,  r^Oth  June,  1773. 
t  Now  Lord  Archbishop  of  York. 


182  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

The  Bishop  readily  entered  into  the  plan,  to  which  he  did  not 
foresee  that  any  objection  could  be  made,  as  Di  Bcattie's  "  Essay" 
•was  well  known  at  Oxford,  and  had  rendered  him  extremely  popu- 
lar there.  The  time  fixed  on  for  his  receiving  this  honovu'  from 
the  university,  was  the  approaching  installation  of  Lord  North,  as 
chancellor  of  the  university,  on  which  occasion  a  number  of  degrees 
were,  as  usual,  to  be  conferred ;  and  Dr  Beattie  was  directed  to 
repair  to  Oxford,  to  be  present  on  the  occasion. 

It  was  the  original  intention  that  it  should  be  what  is  called  a 
diploma-degree  ;  by  which  he  would  have  become  entitled  to  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  member  of  the  university.  When 
the  Bishop  of  Chester  went  to  Oxford,  however,  a  short  time  before 
the  installation,  and  conversed  on  the  subject  witli  the  vice-chan- 
cellor, it  was  represented  as  doubtful,  whether  a  degree  by  diploma 
could,  with  propriety,  be  conferred  on  Dr  Beattie,  on  account  of  his 
being  a  presbyterian.  On  this  difficulty  being  communicated  to 
Dr  Beattie,  he  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  the  matter.  It  was,  there- 
fore, not  without  considerable  surprise,  that  he  received  a  letter 
from  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  from  Oxford,  informing  him,  "  that 
"  though  the  success  of  a  diploma-degree  in  laws  seemed  doubtful, 
"  (notwithstanding  that  all  the  heads  of  houses  in  the  university 
*'  were  as  favourable  as  could  be  wished)  an  honorary  degree  did 
"  not  seem  liable  to  any  hazard ;  and  that  his  name  had  been  put 
*'  in  the  list  of  those  who  Avere  to  be  so  complimented,  on  the  pre- 
"  sent  occasion.  The  Bishop  desired  him,  therefore,  to  repair 
"  immediately  to  Oxford." 

Dr  Beattie,  who  happened  to  come  accidentally  that  morning 
from  Sir  William  Mayne's,  at  Arno's  Grove,  to  London,  set  out 
instantly  for  Oxford,  where  he  arrived  the  same  evening.  He  im- 
mediately waited  on  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  by  whom  he  was  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  kindness,  and  the  day  following,  (9th  July) 
the  degree  was  conferred  on  him,  in  the  theatre.* 

*  Some  cu'cumstances  attended  the  confeirhig  of  tliis  degree  on  Dr 
Beattie  which  were  extremely  Hattering  to  him.  About  fifteen  persons  were 
admitted  that  day  to  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  ;  among  which  number  was 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  When  it  came  to  Dr  Beattie's  turn,  the  Professor  of 
Civil  Law  (Dr  Vansittart,)  whose  business  it  is  to  present  tlie  giaduates  to 
the  Chancellor,  after  mentioning  his  name  and  title,  of  professor  of  moral 
philosophy,  in  the  university  of  Aberdeen,  wliich  is  all  that  is  usually  said 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  183 

On  the  next  day  he  left  Oxford,  and  returned  to  London,  where 
he  continued,  without  hearing  any  thing  farther  of  the  pension, 
until  the  20th  August,  when  he  received  a  letter  from  I^rd  North's 
secretary,  informing  him  officially,  by  his  lordship's  desire,  that 
the  King  had  been  pleased  to  consent  to  a  pension  of  two  hundred 
pounds  a-year  being  paid  to  him. 

Thus,  at  length,  he  saw  happily  accomplished  the  object  of  the 
wishes  of  his  friends  and  his  own,  by  this  provision,  which  his 
Majesty  had  been  graciously  pleased  to  make  for  him,  and  which, 
though  not  such  as  to  place  him  in  great  iUtiuence,  was  yet  amply 
sufficient,  with  the  emoluments  of  his  professorship,  for  all  his 
wants  ;  and,  together  ai  ith  the  profit  to  be  derived  from  his  writings, 
to  render  him  independent. 

If  any  thing  could  add  to  the  satisfaction  he  naturally  felt  from 
this  fortunate  conclusion  of  his  affairs,  it  was  the  distinguished  ho- 
nour he  met  with,  before  he  left  London,  cf  a  personal  and  private 
interview  with  his  Majesty,  at  the  palace  at  Kew. 

on  the  occasion,  to  his  surprise,  went  on  with  a  long-  Latin  oration,  in  Ins 
praise,  nearly  to  the  following"  purpose  ;  "  whose  writings  and  char.icter  ai-e 
''  too  well  known,  to  stand  in  need  of  any  encomium  from  me.  He  has  had 
*'  the  sin!i;'ular  fortune  to  join  together,  in  the  happiest  union,  tlie  poetical, 
"  and  philosophical  character.  He  is  justly  considered  as  one  of  the  most 
*'  elegant  poets  of  his  time  ;  and  his  fame,  both  as  a  philosopher  and  poet, 
*'  will  be  as  permanent  as  that  truth  which  he  has  so  ably  defended."  This 
is  but  an  abridgment  of  the  speech,  which  was  much  more  elegant  in  its 
composition,  as  well  as  more  extravagant  in  its  compliment.  This  speech, 
says  Mr  Williamson,  who  was  present  in  the  theatre,  and  heard  it  spoken, 
was  much  taken  notice  of  at  Oxford,  on  this  occasion.  He  adds,  it  was  cer- 
tainly unpremeditated,  as  Dr  Vansittart  did  not  know,  twenty  minutes  before 
he  spoke  it,  that  Dr  Beattie  was  among  the  number  of  the  graduates ;  and 
even  after  he  knew  it,  he  was  in  the  middle  of  a  crowd,  so  tliat  notwithstand- 
ing its  elegance,  it  was  a  temporary  effusion,  proceeding  from  the  high  cha- 
racter he  had  conceived  of  him  from  his  writings,  and  whicli,  continues  Mr 
Williamson,  I  thought  no  study  could  have  produced. 

As  soon  as  the  degree  is  conferred,  the  graduate  bows,  and  takes  his  place 
among  tlie  doctors,  wlien  there  is  generally  a  clap  of  approbation  in  the 
theatre,  which  is  sometimes  loud,  and  sometimes  but  faint.  When  it  came 
to  Dr  Beattie's  turn,  the  clapping  of  hands  was  so  remarkably  loud,  and  so 
long  continued,  as  satisfied  him,  that  he  had  more  friends  in  the  theatre,  than 
he  had  any  reason  to  expect ;  and  that  this  honour  was  conferred  on  him 
witl)  tlie  heartiest  good-vvill  of  all  parties.  Of  those  who  received  the  degree 
at  that  time,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  he  were  the  only  two  v,  lio  were  distin- 


im  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Dr  Beattie  had  been  informed  by  Dr  Majendie,  who  lived  at 
Kew,  and  was  often  at  the  palace,  that  the  King  having  asked  some 
questions  of  the  Doctor  respecting  him,  and  being  told  that  he 
sometimes  visited  Dr  Majendie  there,  his  Majesty  had  desired  to 
be  informed  the  next  time  Dr  Beattie  was  to  be  at  Kew.  What  his 
Majesty's  intentions  were,  Dr  Majendie  said  he  did  not  know  ;  but 
supposed  the  King  intended  to  admit  him  to  a  private  audience.  A 
day  was  therefore  fixed,  on  which  Dr  Beattie  was  to  be  at  Dr  Ma- 
jendie's  house,  early  in  the  morning,  of  which  the  Doctor  was  to 
give  notice  to  his  Majesty.  Of  tl^is  interesting  event,  so  honourable 
to  Dr  Beattie,  I  shall  transcribe,  in  his  own  words,  the  account  he 
has  given  in  his  Diary. 

"  Tuesday,  24th  August,  set  out  for  Dr  Majendie's  at  Kew- 
Green.  The  Doctor  told  me,  that  he  had  not  seen  the  King  yester- 
day, but  had  left  a  note  in  writing,  to  intimate,  that  I  was  to  be  at  his 
house  to-day  ;  and  that  one  of  the  King's  pages  had  come  to  him 
this  morning,  to  say,  "that  his  Majesty  would  see  me  a  little  after 
"  twelve."  At  twelve,  the  Doctor  and  I  went  to  the  King's  house, 
at  Kew.     We  had  been  only  a  few  minutes  in  the  hall,  when  the 

guished  by  an  encomium,  and  extraordinary  applause.  As  soon  as  the  cere- 
mony was  over,  several  of  his  friends  bowed  to  bim,  from  their  seats  in  the 
theatre,  particularly,  Lord  Dartmout!i,  Dr  Thomas,  Dean  of  Westminster, 
Dr  Moore,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  Mr  Thrale,  Dr  Parker,  &.c.  &c.  &.c.  who  all, 
when  the  convocation  broke  up,  came  and  paid  their  compliments  to  him  ; 
none  with  greater  affection  and  politeness  than  Lord  Dartmouth. 

So  great  a  concourse  of  people  had  been  drawn  to  Oxford,  from  all  quar- 
ters, to  witness  this  installation  of  the  prime  minister,  as  chancellor  of  the 
university,  that  when  Dr  Beattie  wished  to  return  to  London,  neither  car- 
riage, nor  horse,  nor  any  mode  of  conveyance,  was  to  be  bad  on  any  terms  ; 
all  being  engaged  for  several  days.  After  many  fruitless  attempts  to  get  a 
post-chaise,  he  was  preparing  to  set  out  on  foot,  as  he  was  anxious  to  get 
back  to  town  ;  when,  happening  to  pay  a  visit  to  Mr  John  Pit! '  and  liis  lady, 
they,  on  hearing  of  his  embarrassment,  very  kindly  insisted  on  his  accepting 
of  the  use  of  their  post-chaise  and  four,  to  carry  him  the  first  stage  on  his 
road,  where  he  co\ild  find  post-horses  fi)r  the  rest  of  tl)e  way.f 

•  A  gentleman  of  fortune  in  Dorsetshire,  who  honoured  Dr  Beattie,  in  a  particular  manner, 
with  his  friendship,  and  to  whose  kind  intentions,  in  his  favour,  it  will  be  seen  hereafter,  that 
he  was  much  indebted. 

1"  I  state  this  account  of  the  graduation  of  Oxford,  from  the  5IS.  Diary,  and  from  a  letter  to 
me,  from  Mr  Williamson,  who  was  present  m  the  theatre  on  the  occasion,  and  heard  and  saw 
the  whole. 


.  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  185 

JK.ing  and  Queen  came  in  from  an  ailing,  and  as  they  passed 
through  the  hall,  the  King  called  to  me  by  name,  and  asked  how 
long  it  was  since  I  came  from  town  ?  1  answered,  about  an  hour. 
*'  I  shall  see  you,"  says  he, "  in  a  little."  The  Doctor  and  I  waited 
a  considerable  time,  (for  the  King  was  busy)  and  then  we  were 
called  into  a  large  room,  furnished  as  a  library,  where  the  King  was 
walking  about,  and  the  Queen  sitting  in  a  chair.  We  were  received 
in  the  most  gracious  manner  possible,  by  both  their  Majesties.  I 
had  the  honour  of  a  conversation  with  them^  (nobody  else  being 
present,  but  Dr  Majendie)  for  upwards  of  an  hour,  on  a  great  va- 
riety of  topics,  in  which  both  the  King  and  Queen  joined,  with  a  de- 
gree of  cheerfulness,  affability,  and  ease,  that  was  to  me  surprising, 
and  soon  dissipated  the  embarrassment  which  I  felt,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  conference.  They  both  complimented  me,  in  the 
highest  terms,  on  my  "  Essay,"  Which,  they  said,  was  a  book  they 
always  kept  by  them  ;  and  the  King  said  he  had  one  copy  of  it  at 
Kew,  and  another  in  town,  and  immediately  went  and  took  it  down 
from  a  shelf  I  found  it  was  the  second  edition.  "  I  never  stole  a 
"  book  but  one,"  said  his  Majesty,  "and  that  was  yours  ;  (speaking 
"  to  me)  I  stole  it  from  the  Queen,  to  give  it  to  Lord  Hertford  to 
"  read."  He  had  heard  that  the  sale  of  "  Hume's  Essays"  had 
failed,  since  my  book  was  published  ;  and  I  told  him  what  Mr 
Strahan  had  told  me,  in  regard  to  that  matter.  He  had  even  heard 
of  my  being  in  Edinburgh,  last  summer,  and  how  Mr  Hume  was 
offended  on  the  score  of  my  book.  He  asked  many  questions  about 
the  second  part  of  the  "  Essay,"  and  when  it  would  be  ready  for  the 
press.  I  gave  him,  in  a  short  speech,  an  accotint  of  the  plan  of  it ; 
and  said,  my  health  was  so  precarious,  I  could  not  tell  when  it  might 
be  ready,  as  I  had  many  books  to  consult  before  I  could  finish  it ; 
but,  that  if  my  health  were  good,  I  thought  I  might  bring  it  to  a 
conclusion  in  two  or  three  years.  He  asked,  how  long  I  had  been 
in  composing  my  "  Essay  ?"  praised  the  caution  with  which  it  was 
written  ;  and  said,  he  did  not  wonder  that  it  had  employed  me  five 
or  six  years.  He  asked  about  my  poems.  I  said,  there  was  only 
one  poem  of  my  own,  on  which  I  set  any  value,  (meaning  the 
"  Minstrel")  and  that  it  was  first  published  about  the  same  time 
with  the  "  Essay."  My  other  poems,  I  said,  were  incorrect,  being 
but  juvenile  pieces,  and  of  little  consequence,  even  in  my  own  opi- 
nion.    We  had  much  conversation  on  moral  subjects  ;  from  which 

2.\ 


186  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

both  theii*  Majesties  let  it  appear,  that  they  were  warm  friends  to 
Christianity ;  and  so  little  inclined  to  infidelity,  that  they  could 
hardly  believe  that  any  thinking  man  could  really  be  an  atheist,  xm- 
less  he  could  bring  himself  to  believe,  that  he  made  himself; 
a  thought  which  pleased  the  King  exceedingly  ;  and  he  repeated  it 
several  times  to  the  Queen.  He  asked,  whether  any  thing  had  been 
written  against  me.  I  spoke  of  the  late  pamphlet,  of  which  I  gave 
an  account,  telling  him,  that  I  never  had  met  with  any  man  who 
had  read  it,  except  one  Quaker.  This  brought  on  some  discourse 
about  the  Quakers,  whose  moderation,  and  mild  behaviour,  the  King 
and  Queen  commended.  I  was  asked  many  (juestions  about  the 
Scots  universities,  the  revenues  of  the  Scots  clergy,  their  mode  of 
praying  and  preaching,  the  medical  college  of  Edinburgh,  Dr 
Gregory,  (of  whom  I  gave  a  particular  character)  and  Dr  Cullen, 
the  length  of  our  vacation  at  Aberdeen,  and  the  closeness  of  our 
attendance  during  the  winter,  tlie  number  of  students  that  attend 
my  lectures,  my  mode  of  lecturing,  whether  from  notes,  or  com- 
pletely wi'itten  lectures  ;  about  Mr  Hume,  and  Dr  Robertson,  and 
Lord  Kinnoull,  and  the  Archbishop  of  York,  he.  he.  See.  His 
Majesty  asked  what  I  thought  of  my  new  acquaintance,  Lord 
Dartmouth  ?  I  said,  there  was  something  in  his  air  and  manner, 
which  I  thought  not  only  agreeable,  but  enchanting,  and  that  he 
seemed  to  me  to  be  one  of  the  best  of  men  ;  a  sentiment  in  which 
both  their  Majesties  heartily  joined.  "  They  say  that  Lord  Dart- 
"  mouth  is  an  enthusiast,"  said  the  King,  "  but  surely  he  says 
"  nothing  on  the  subject  of  religion,  but  what  every  christian  may, 
'•'  and  ought  to  say."  He  asked,  whether  I  did  not  think  the  English 
language  on  the  decline  at  present  ?  I  answered  in  the  affirmative  ; 
and  the  King  agreed,  and  named  the  "  Spectator"  as  one  of  the  best 
standai'ds  of  the  language.  When  I  told  him  that  the  Scots  clergy 
sometimes  prayed  a  quarter,  or  even  half-an-hour,  at  a  time,  he 
asked,  whether  that  did  not  lead  them  into  repetitions?  I  said  it 
often  did.  "  That,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  like  in  prayers  ;  and  excel- 
"  lent  as  our  liturgy  is,  I  think  it  somewhat  faulty  in  that  respect." 
"  Your  Majesty  knows,"  said  I,  "  that  three  services  are  joined  in 
"  one,  in  the  ordinary  church-service,  which  is  one  cause  of  those 
"  repetitions."  "True,"  he  replied,  "and  that  circumstance  also 
"  makes  the  service  too  long."  From  this,  he  took  occasion  to 
Speal^  of  thfe  composition  of  the  church-liturgy  ;  on  which  he  very 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  18? 

jCstly  bestowed  the  highest  commendation.        "  Observe,"  his 
Majesty  said,  "  how  flat  those  occasional  prayers  are,  that  are  now 
"  composed,  in  comparison  with  the  old  ones."     When  I  men- 
tioned the  smallnessof  the  church-livings  in  Scotland,  he  said,  "  he 
"  wondered  how  men  of  liberal  education  would  choose  to  become 
''  clergymen  there,"  and  asked,  "  whether  in  the  remote  paits  of 
■^  the  country,  the  clergy,  in  general,  were  not  very  ignorant  ?"     I 
answered,  "  No,  for  that  education  was  very  cheap  in  Scotland,  and 
"  that  the  clergy,  in  general,  were  men  of  good  sense,  and  com- 
"  petent  learning."     He  asked,  whether  we  had  any  good  preachers 
at  Aberdeen  ?     I  said,  yes,  and  named  Campbell  and  Gerard,  Fith 
whose  names,  however,  I  did  not  find  that  he  was  acquainted.     Dr 
Majendie  mentioned  Dr  Oswald's  "  Appeal,"  with  commendation; 
I  praised  it  too  ;   and  the  Queen  took  down  the  name,  with  a  view 
to  send  for  it.     I  was  asked,  whether  I  knew  Dr  Oswald  ?     I 
answered,  I  did  not ;  and  said,  that  my  book  was  published  before 
I  read  his  ;  that  Dr  O.  was  well  known  to  Lord  Kinnoull,  who  had 
often  proposed  to^make  us  acquainted.    We  discussed  a  great  many 
other  topics  ;  for  the  conversation,  as  before  observed,  lasted  for 
upwards  of  an  hour,  without  any  intermission.     The  Queen  bore  a 
large  share  in  it.     Both  the  King  and  her  Majesty  showed  a  great 
deal  of  good  sense,  acuteness,  and  knowledge,  as  well  as  of  good 
nature  and  affability.     At  last,  the  King  took  out  his  watch,  (for  it 
was  now  almost  three  o'clock,  his  hour  of  dinner)  which  Dr 
Majendie  and  I  took  as  a  signal  to  withdraw.     We  accordingly 
bowed  to  their  Majesties,  and  I  addressed  the  King  in  these  words  : 
"  I  hope,  Sir,  your  Majesty  will  pardon  me,  if  I  take  this  opportu- 
"  nity  to  return  you  my  humble  and  most  grateful  acknowledg- 
*'  ments,  for  the  honour  you  have  been  pleased  to  confer  upon  me." 
He  immediately  answered,  "  I  think  I  could  do  no  less  for  a  man, 
''  who  has  done  so  much  service  to  the  cause  of  Christianity.    I  shall 
"  always  be  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  shew  the  good  opinion  I  have 
"  of  you."     The  Queen  sat  all  the  while,  and  the  King  stood,isome- 
times  walking  about  a  little.     Her  Majesty  speaks  the  English 
language  with  surprising  elegance,  and  little  or  nothing  of  a  foreign 
accent.  There  is  something  wonderfully  captivating  in  her  manner, 
so  that  if  she  were  only  of  the  rank  of  a  private  gentlewoman,  one 
could  not  help  taking  notice  of  her,  as  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
women  in  the  world.     Her  face  is  much  more  pleasing  than  any  of 


188  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

her  pictures ;  and  in  the  expression  of  her  eyes,  and  in  her  smile, 
there  is  something  peculiarly  engaging.  When  the  Doctor  and  I 
came  out,  "  Pray,"  said  I,  "  how  did  I  behave  ?  Tell  me  honestly, 
«  for  I  am  not  accustomed  to  conversations  of  this  kind."  "  Why, 
"  perfectly  well,"  answered  he,  "  and  just  as  you  ought  to  do." — . 
"  Are  you  sure  of  that?"  said  I. — "  As  sure,"  he  replied,  "  as  of 
"  my  own  existence  :  and  you  may  be  assured  of  it  too,  when  I  tell 
"  you,  that  if  there  had  been  any  thing  in  your  manner  or  conversa- 
"  tion,  which  was  not  perfectly  agreeable,  your  conference  would 
"  have  been  at  an  end,  in  eight  or  ten  minutes  at  most."  The 
Doctor  afterwards  told  me,  that  it  was  a  most  uncommon  thing  for 
a  private  man,  and  a  commoner,  to  be  honoured  with  so  long  an 
audience.  I  dined  with  Dr  and  Mrs  Majendie,  and  their  family, 
and  returned  to  town  in  the  evening,  yery  much  pleased  with  the 
occurrences  of  the  day."  * 


To  close  the  account  of  the  honours  he  received,  at  this  time,  in 
England,  I  must  not  omit  to  add  the  very  high  and  pleasing  com- 
pliment paid  to  him  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  requested  Dr 
Beattie  to  sit  for  his  picture,  which  that  eminent  master  of  painting 
executed  in  a  manner  that  did  equal  credit  to  himself,  and  to  Dr 
Beattie.  For,  not  contented  with  his  portrait  merely,  in  the  usual 
form.  Sir  Joshua,  whose  classical  taste  is  well  known,  himself 
suggested  the  idea  of  an  allegorical  painting,  which  he  actually 
finished,  of  admirable  design,  and  exquisite  skill  in  the  execution. 
In  this  inestimable  piece,  which  exhibits  an  exact  resemblance  of  Dr 
Beattie's  countenance,  at  that  period,  he  is  represented  in  the  gown 
of  Doctor  of  laws,  with  which  he  had  been  so  recently  invested  at 
Oxford.  Close  to  the  portrait,  the  artist  has  introduced  an  Angel, 
holding,  in  one  hand,  a  pair  of  scales,  as  if  weighing  "  Truth"  in 
the  balance,  and,  with  the  other  hand,  pushing  down  three  hideous 
figures,  supposed  to  represent.  Sophistry,  Scepticism,  and  Infi- 
delity ;t  ii)  allusion  to  Dr  Beattie's  "  Essay,"  which  had  been  the 

*  MS    Diary,  24th  August,  1773. 

t  Because  one  of  these  was  a  lean  figure,  and  the  other  af^it  one,  people 
of  lively  imaginations  pleased  themselves  with  finding  in  tliem  the  portraits 
of  Voltaire,  and  Mr  Hume.    But  Sir  Joshua,  I  have  reason  to  believe,  had 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  189 

foundation  of  all  his  fame,  arfd  all  the  distinction  that  had  been  paid 
to  him.  The  likeness  of  Dr  Beattie  was  most  striking;  and  no- 
thing can  exceed  the  beauty  of  the  angel.  The  whole  composition, 
as  well  as  execution,  is  in  the  very  best  manner  of  that  inimitable 
painter.  And  it  has  had  the  good  fortune,  not  always  the  case  with 
Sir  Joshua's  pieces,  raiasterly  as  they  are  in  every  other  respect,  of 
perfectly  preserving  the  colouring,  which  is  as  beautiful,  at  this 
distance  of  upwards  of  thirty  years,  as  it  was  at  first,  with  as  much 
of  mellowness  only,  as  one  could  desire. 

Of  this  admirable  performance  Sir  Joshua  was  pleased  to  make 
Dr  Beattie  a  present,  of  which  he  was  very  justly  proud.*  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  indeed,  had  a  great  friendship  for  Dr  Beattie,  and 
paid  him  much  attention,  frequently  entertaining  him,  both  in  town, 
and  at  his  house  on  Richmond  Hill ;  and  testifying,  by  every 
means  in  his  power,  the  admiration  he  felt  of  his  genius  and  talents, 
and  the  opinion  he  held  of  the  service  he  had  rendered  to  the  world 
by  his  writings.  While  Dr  Beattie,  on  the  other  hand,  loved  Sir 
Joshua,  for  the  amiable  simplicity  of  his  manners  and  character, 
and  justly  admired  the  masterly  productions  of  his  pencil,  as  well 
as  duly  appreciated  his  merit,  in  the  composition  of  those  truly 
classical  discourses,  which  he  delivered  to  the  students,  at  the 
Royal  Academy. 

How  properly  he  estimated  the  various  talents  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  will  be  seen  by  the  following  character,  which  he  has 
drawn  of  him  in  his  diary.  I  transcribe  it  in  his  own  words  ;  be- 
cause, being  a  private  record,  merely  of  his  thoughts,  not  meant 
for  any  eye  but  his  own,  it  may  be  relied  on,  as  speaking  the  ge- 
nuine language  of  his  heart. 

no  such  thought,  when  he  painted  those  figures.  Dr  Beattie,  in  one  of  his 
letters  says,  the  figures  represent  Prejudice,  Scepticism,  and  Folly,  who  are 
shrinking  away  from  the  light  of  the  sun,  that  beams  on  the  breast  of  the 
angel. 

*  This  fine  piece  of  painting,  which  Dr  Beattie  preserved  witli  the  utmost 
care,  keeping  It  always  covered  with  a  green  silk  curtain,  he  left  to  his  niece, 
Mrs  Glennie,  in  whose  possession  it  now  Is.  A  mezzotinto  print  was  done 
iVom  it,  by  Watson,  when  it  was  first  painted.  And  the  excellent  engraving, 
prefixed  to  this  work,  will  give, some  faint  idea  of  the  picture,  as  well  as  of 
Dr  Beattie,  to  those  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  originals. 


190  LIFE  Ol-  DR  BE  ATTIC. 

"  Sunday,  l5th  August,  we  proposed  (Dr  and  Mrs  Bealtie)  to 
have  gone  yesterday  to  Arno's  Grove,  but  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  in- 
sisted on  it,  that  we  should  stay  till  to-morrow,  and  partake  of  a 
haunch  of  venison  with  him  to-day,  at  his  house  on  Richmond  Hill. 
Accordingly  at  eleven,  Mrs  Beattie,  Miss  Reynolds,  Mr  Baretti, 
and  Mr  Palmer,  set  out  in  Sir  Joshua's  coach  for  Richmond.  At 
twelve,  he  and  I  went  in  a  post-chaise,  and  by  the  way  paid  a  visit  to 
the  Bishop  of  Chester,  who  was  very  earnest  for  us  to  fix  a  day  for 
dining  with  him :  but  I  could  not  fix  one  just  now,  on  account  of 
the  present  state  of  my  affairs.  After  dining  at  Richmond,  we  all 
returned  to  town,  about  eight  o'clock.  This  day  I  had  a  great  deal 
of  conversation  with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  on  critical  and  philoso* 
phical  subjects.  I  find  him  to  be  a  man,  not  only  of  excellent  taste 
in  painting  and  poetry,  but  of  an  enlarged  understanding,  and  truly 
philosophical  mind.  His  notions  of  painting  are  not  at  all  the 
same  with  those  that  are  entertained  by  the  generality  of  painters 
and  critics.  Artificial  and  contrasted  attitudes,  and  groupes,  he 
makes  no  account  of;  it  is  the  truth  and  simplicity  of  nature,  which 
he  is  ambitious  to  imitate ;  and  these,  it  must  be  allowed,  he  pos- 
sesses the  art  of  blending  with  the  most  exquisite  grace,  the  most 
animated  expression. "  He  speaks  with  contempt  of  those,  who  sup- 
pose grace  to  consist  in  erect  posture,  turned-out  toes,  or  the  frip- 
pery of  modern  dress.  Indeed,  whatever  account  we  make  of  the 
colouring  of  this  great  artist,  (which  some  people  object  to)  it  is 
impossible  to  deny  him  the  praise  of  being  the  greatest "  designer" 
of  this,  or  perhaps  of  any  age.  In  his  pictures  there  is  a  grace,  a 
variety,  an  expression,  a  simplicity,  which  I  have  never  seen  in  the 
works  of  any  other  painter.  His  portraits  are  distinguished  from 
all  others,  by  this,  that  they  exhibit  an  exact  imitation,  not  only 
of  the  features,  but  also  of  the  character  of  the  person  repesented. 
His  picture  of  Garrick,  between  tragedy  and  comedy,  he  tells  me, 
he  finished  in  a  week." 

Dr  Beattie  has  also  strongly  marked  his  high  admiration  of  Sii- 
Joshua  Reynolds,  in  his  "  Essay  on  Poetry  and  Music,"*  by  joining 
his  name  with  that  of  no  less  a  painter  than  Raphael.  Praising 
those  two  great  masters,  for  taking  their  models  from  general  na- 
ture, and  avoiding,  as  far  as  possible,  (at  least  in  all  theii'  great  per- 

*  Part  I.  ch.  III.  p.  393.  cd.  in  4to. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  191 

formances)  those  peculiarities  that  derive  their  beauty  from  mere 
fashion,  he  adds,  "  that  on  this  account  their  -works  must  give  plea- 
"  sure,  and  appear  elegant,  as  long  as  men  are  capable  of  forming 
"  general  ideas,  and  of  judging  from  them.  The  last  mentioned 
"  incomparable  artist,  (meaning  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds)  is  particu- 
"  larly  observant  of  children,"  says  Dr  Beattie,  "  whose  looks  and 
"  attitudes,  being  less  under  the  control  of  art,  and  local  manners, 
"  are  more  characteristical  of  the  species,  than  those  of  men  and 
"  women.  This  field  of  observation,"  Dr  Beattie  continues,  "  sup- 
"  plied  him  with  many  fine  figures,  particularly  that  most  exqui- 
"  site  one  of  Comedy,  struggling  for,  and  winning  (for  who  can  re- 
"  sist  her  ?)  the  affections  of  Garrick  ; — a  figure  which  could 
"  never  have  occurred  to  the  imagination  of  a  painter,  who  had 
"  confined  his  views  to  grown  persons,  looking  and  moving  in  all 
"  the  formality  of  polite  life  ; — a  figure  which,  in  all  ages  and  coun- 
"  tries,  would  be  pronounced  natural  and  engaging." 

"  Monday,  16th  August,  breakfasted  with  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds, who  this  day  began  the  allegorical  picture.  I  sat  to  him 
five  hours,  in  which  time  he  finished  my  head,  and  sketched  out 
the  rest  of  my  figure.  The  likeness  is  most  striking,  and  the  exe- 
cution masterly.  The  figure  is  as  large  as  life.  The  plan  is  not 
yet  fixed  for  the  rest  of  the  picture.  Though  I  sat  five  hours,  I 
was  not  in  the  least  fatigued ;  for,  by  placing  a  large  mirror  oppo- 
site to  my  face.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  put  it  my  power  to  see  every 
stroke  of  his  pencil ;  and  I  was  greatly  entertained  to  observe  the 
progress  of  the  work,  and  the  easy  and  masterly  manner  of  the  ar- 
tist, which  differs  as  much  from  that  of  all  the  other  painters  I  have 
seen  at  work,  as  the  execution  of  Giardini  on  the  violin  differs  from 
that  of  a  common  fidler.     Mrs  B.  and  I  dined  with  Sir  Joshua."* 

*  MS.  Diary,  15th  and  16th  August,  1773.  To  the  character  of  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  Dr  Johnson,  whose  intimate  and  beloved  friend  he  was, 
bore  the  most  emphatic  testimony,  when  he  declared  him  to  be  "  the  most; 
"  invulnerable  man  he  knew;  whom,  if  he  should  quarrel  with  him,  h^ 
"  slioukl  find  the  most  difficulty  how  to  abuse." 

To  tliat  great  artist,  and  excellent  man,  whose  house,  one  of  our  mutual 
friends*  has  well  denominated  "  the  common  centre  of  union  for  the  great, 
"  the  accomplished,  the  learned,  and  the  ingenious,"  I  must  equally  pay  my 

'  BosweU's  Life»f  Johnsen,  voi.  k  ded.  p.  ii.  iii. 


192  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

At  length,  having  obtained  at  the  Treasury  the  warrant  for  his 
pension,  and  gone  down  to  Sandleford-priory  to  bid  adieu  to  Mrs 
Montagu,  and  to  Arno's  Grove  to  take  leave  of  Sir  William  and 
Lady  Mayne,  Mrs  Beattie  and  he  set  out  on  their  return  to  Scot- 
land, and  arrived  in  Aberdeen  on  the  30th  September,  1773  ;  after 
an  absence  of  somewhat  more  than  five  months. 


I  shall  insert  here  some  of  Dr  Beattie's  correspondence,  during 
his  stay  in  England.  In  these  letters  will  be  found  some  details, 
confirming  the  account  which  I  have  given  of  Dr  Beattie's  visit  to 
London,  but  which  I  forbore  inserting  at  their  proper  dates,  that 
1  might  not  interrupt  the  course  of  the  narrative. 


LETTER   LXV. 


THE  DUTCHESS-DOWAGER  OF  PORTLAND  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Bulstrode,  July  13Ui,  1773. 

I  TAKE  the  first  moment  to  return  you  my  best  thanks  for  the 
favour  of  your  letter  I  have  just  received,  as  well  as  that  of  last  week. 
The  University  have  done  themselves  great  honour,  and  I  am  glad 
the  manner  was  agreeable.  You  must  give  me  leave  to  differ  from 
you  in  I'egard  to  yourself,  but  modesty  is  always  the  attendant  on 
superior  merit.  Lord  Dartmouth  is  not  only  valuable  but  amiable  ; 
your  success  will,  I  dai^e  say,  give  him  as  much  pleasure  as  to  any 
of  your  well-wishers,  in  which  number  I  hope  you  will  allow  mc 
to  subscribe  myself,  with  the  greatest  esteem,  Sec.  Sec.  Sec. 

grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  uninterrupted  friendship  with  which  he 
honoured  me,  as  well  as  for  an  introduction  to  the  notice  of  some  distin- 
guished characters,  to  whom  I  should  not  otherwise  have  had  the  means  of 
being  known.* 

Sir  Josluia  Reynolds  died  in  London,  23d  February,  1792,  aged  68. 

"  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnsonj  vol.  iii.  p.  83,  S4,ed.  3.  8vo.  1795. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  193 

"  Mrs  Delany*  desires  her  best  compliments  to  you  and  Mrs 
Beattie  :  I  beg  you  will  make  mine  acceptable  to  her,  and  I  hope 
that  I  shall  soon  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing;  you  both  at  Bul- 
strode." 

*  Mrs  Dclany's  maiden  name  was  Granville,  the  grand-daugliter  of  the 
gallant  Sir  Bevil  Granville,  the  faithful  adherent  of  King  Charles  the  fii'st, 
for  whose  service,  by  his  own  popularity,  jointly  with  other  royalist  gentle- 
men in  Cornwall,  an  army  was  raised  at  their  ownexpence,  which  he  led  into 
the  west  of  England ;  but  was  unfortunately  killed  in  the  battle  of  Lansdown, 
near  Bath,  on  the  5th  July,  1643.* 

Mrs  Delany  was  first  married  to Pendarvis,  Esq.  a  Cornish  gentle- 
man. Her  second  husband  was  the  Reverend  Dr  Delany,  Dean  of  Down,  in 
Ireland,  and  the  chosen  friend  of  Swift.  She  long  survived  her  husband ; 
and  during  many  \  ears  was  the  esteemed  and  intimate  companion  of  the 
Dutcliess-dowager  of  Portland,  who  generally  spent  her  evenings,  when  in 
London,  at  Mrs  Dclany's,  where  was  an  assemblage  of  persons,  the  most 
distinguished  for  rank,  as  well  as  literary  accom|)lishments.  In  return,  Mrs 
Delany  passed  her  summers  with  the  Dutchess  of  Portland,  at  Bulstrode. 

From  a  romantic  and  useless  stretch  of  what  she  no  doubt  considered  to 
be  disinterested  friendship,  she  had  insisted,  that  the  Dutchess  of  Portland 
should  not  make  any  provision  for  her  in  her  will,  notwithstanding  that  she 
was  far  from  being  in  opulent  circumstances ;  so  that  on  the  death  of  the 
Dutchess,  Mrs  Delany  found  herself  reduced  to  a  very  circumscribed  income. 
To  the  credit  of  their  Majesties,  to  whom  Mrs  Delany  had  the  honour  of 
being  well  known,  by  her  i-esidence  at  the  Dutchess  of  Portland's,  whom  the 
King  and  Qjieen  often  visited  at  Bulstrode,  in  the  course  of  their  morning- 
airings  from  Windsor-castle,  as  soon  as  they  were  informed  of  Mrs  Delany's 
situation,  on  the  Dutchess  of  Portland's  death,  they  estabUshed  her  in  a 
liouse  at  Windsor,  with  a  pension  of  three  hundred  pounds  a-year. 

Mrs  Delany  was  a  woman  of  a  cultivated  understanding  and  refined  taste, 
and  particularly  skilled  in  drawing  and  painting  in  oil.  She  executed,  like- 
wise, an  herbal,  or  collection  of  plants,  formed  of  coloured  paper,  so  exact!}' 
resembling  nature,  as  to  be  almost  a  deception,  even  to  adepts  in  botanical 
science.  Her  collection  amounted  to  the  astonishing  number  of  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety,  which  it  was  her  intention,  had  she  lived,  to  have  augment- 
ed to  one  thousand.  The  collection  is  now  in  the  possession  of  her  nephew, 
Barnard  D'Ewes,  Esq.  of  Welsburn,  in  Warwickshire. 

Mrs  Dckny  died  in  the  year  1788,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-eight, 

*  Clarendon,  Vol.  11.  jwt  1.  p.  130^  284.  etl.  in  8vo. 
2   B 


194  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  LXVI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS. 

London,  23d  July,  1773. 

"  I  HAVE  been  very  much  hurried  of  late  by  a  variety  of 
interesting  matters,  otherwise  I  should  have  sooner  acknowledged 
the  receipt  of  your  most  obliging  letter  of  the  1st  of  July.  The 
many  favours  I  have  had  the  honour  to  receive  at  your  hands, 
affect  me  with  the  most  lively  gratitude,  which  I  would  fain  attempt 
to  express  in  words,  but  find,  after  repeated  trials,  that  I  cannot. 
All  therefore  that  I  shall  now  say  on  this  subject  is,  that  I  shall 
ever  cherish  a  most  grateful  remembrance  of  them. 

"  The  business  which  I  hinted  at  in  my  last  still  remains  unde- 
termined ;  and  I,  of  consequence,  am  still  confined  to  this  town,  or 
at  least  to  the  neighbourhood.  I  thank  you  for  your  good  wishes ; 
but  I  fear  you  far  over-rate  my  talents,  when  you  suppose,  that 
I.,ondon  is  the  properest  theatre  for  exerting  them  in.  One  thing 
at  least  is  in  my  power;  to  employ,  in  whatever  place  Providence 
shall  allot  me,  those  intervals  of  health  and  leisure  which  may  fall 
to  my  share,  in  vindicating,  to  the  utmost  of  my  poor  abilities,  the 
cause  of  truth,  virtue,  and  mankind.  If  I  shall  be  able  to  do  any 
thing  good  in  this  way,  my  ambition  will  be  completely  gratified  ; 
and  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  to  think,  that  I  am  not  altogether 
luiworthy  of  the  kindness  and  attention  Avhich  I  have  met  with 
from  you,  sir,  and  from  others  of  your  noble-minded  countrymen. 

"  You  have  heard,  perhaps,  of  my  being  at  Oxford  at  the  lat& 
installation.  I  went  thither  in  consequence  of  a  letter  from  the 
Bishop  of  Chester.*  The  University  did  mc  great  honour.  They 
were  unanimous,  not  only  in  conferring  the  degree,  but  also  order- 
ing that  it  should  be  given  to  me  free  of  all  expence. 

"  I  have  not  seen  the  poem  you  mention.  Dr  Hawkesworth's 
book  I  have  seen,  and  read  some  parts  of  it.  I  do  not  think  tlial 
the  interests  of  science,  or  of  mankind,  will  be  much  promoted  by 
what  I  have  read  of  this  work ;  which,  however,  docs  not  reflect 

*  Di-  Markham,  now  Archbishop  of  Yerk. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  195 

on  the  Doctor,  who  was  no  doubt  obliged  to  tell  his  story  in  the 
very  way  in  which  he  has  told  it.  I  am  very  apt  to  be  distrustful 
of  our  modern  travellers,  when  I  find  them,  after  a  three  months 
residence  in  a  country,  of  whose  language  they  know  next  to 
nothing,  explaining  the  moral  and  religious  notions  of  the  people, 
in  such  a  way,  as  to  favour  the  licentious  theories  of  the  age. 
I  give  them  full  credit  for  what  they  tell  us  of  plants  and  minerals, 
and  winds  and  tides ;  those  things  are  obvious  enough,  and  no 
knowledge  of  strange  language  is  necessary  to  make  one  under- 
stand them  ;  but  as  the  morality  of  actions  depends  on  the  motives 
that  give  rise  to  them ;  and  as  it  is  impossible  to  understand  the 
motives  and  principles  of  national  customs,  unless  you  thoroughly 
understand  the  language  of  the  people,  I  should  suspect  that  not 
one  in  ten  thousand  of  our  ordinary  travellers,  is  qualified  to  de- 
cide upon  the  moral  sentiments  of  a  new  discovered  country. 
There  is  not  one  French  author  of  my  acquaintance,  that  seems  to 
have  any  tolerable  knowledge  of  the  English  government,  or  of  the 
character  of  the  English  nation :  they  ascribe  to  us  sentiments 
which  we  never  entertained  ;  they  draw,  from  our  ordinary  beha- 
viour, conclusions  directly  contrary  to  truth  ;  how  then  is  it  to  be 
supposed,  that  Mr  Banks  and  Mr  Solander  could  understand  the 
customs,  the  religion,  government,  and  morals,  of  the  people  of 
Otaheite  ? 

"  Dr  Hawkesworth,  in  his  preface,  has  given  an  account  of 
Providence,  which,  in  spite  of  all  my  partiality  in  his  favour,  I 
cannot  help  thinking  indefensible.  But  I  need  not  say  any  thing 
on  this  subject,  as  you  must  have  seen  the  whole  passage  in  the 
newspapers.  When  my  affairs  are  determined,  which  I  hope  will 
be  soon,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  write  to  you  again." 

LETTER  LXVn. 

MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Sandleford,  14th  July,  17Y5. 

"  IT  is  not  possible  to  express  the  pleasure  I  felt  from  your 
letter  last  night.  It  is  not  on  your  account  alone,  I  rejoice  in  the 
honours  and  marks  of  distinction  and  applause  you  received  at 


196  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Oxford :  I  congratulate  the  University,  I  congratulate  the  age,  on 
the  zeal  with  which  they  pay  regard  to  merit. 

"  I  am  here,  at  present,  quite  alone,  which  comes  nearest  to 
the  happiness  one  finds  in  the  society  of  those  one  loves  best. 
Such  perfect  solitude  is  not  good,  but  in  very  fine  weather ;  soli- 
tude is  a  fine  thing,  says  a  French  writer,  but  one  wants  a  friend, 
to  whom  one  can  say,  solitude  is  a  fine  thing.    The  gayest  place  of 
resort  is  still  enlivened  by  the  presence  of  a  friend  ;  and  a  friend 
does  not  diminish  the  tranquillity  of  retirement.     I  am  not  sure, 
that  one  should  not  find  one's  self  in  a  more  uneasy  state  of  desti- 
tution, in  the  midst  of  a  great  town,  in  which  one  had  not  any  very 
intimate  friends,  than  when  quite  alone  in  the  country.     Where 
there  are  no  enemies,  one  does  not  stand  in  need  of  allies,  nor, 
■where  there  are  no  dangers,  of  any  auxiliaries.     The  little  natives 
of  the  woods  and  meadows  act  in  constant  conformity  to  the  laws 
of  their  nature,  and  when  you  have  informed  yourself  of  the  quali- 
ties of  the  species,  you  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with  each  indivi- 
dual. Here  we  have  no  caprices  of  the  disposition,  or  peculiarities  of 
interest,  to  attend  to,  and  to  fear.     In  this  security  the  mind  is  free 
from  little  cares,  and  at  leisure  to  contemplate  the  system  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  goodness,  whose  laws  equally  regulate  the  little  course 
of  the  creeping  insect,  and  the  vast  orbit  of  the  rolling  spheres. 
There  is  not  any  thing  that  more  strongly  impresses  upon  the 
mind  a  sense  of  the  perpetual  presence  of  the  Deity,  than  seeing 
things,  void  of  intelligence  in  themselves,  ever  progressing,  without 
halt  or  deviation,  error  or  untowardness,  to  complete  their  peculiar 
destination,  and  conspire  with  the  laws  which  pervade  the  universal 
system.     In  these  contemplations  I  have  passed  the  long  summer 
days,  since  I  came  hither,  Avithout  feeling  any  ejinui ;  yet  I  am  not 
a  disciple  of  the  philosophers,  a  quattrc  paites^  who  recommend 
savage  life.     I  think  it  as  great  an  abuse  of  philosophy,  as  of  the 
human  form,  to  stoop  to  the  level  of  the  brute  animals.  Philosophy 
is  a  holy  thing,  s'nould  keep  erect,  look  up  to  Heaven,  contemplate 
the  stars,  and  adore  their  Maker.     Seasons  of  recess  and  retire- 
ment are  good  for  the  mind,  and  give  time  to  reflect  on  what  wc 
have  done,  and  what  ive  ought  to  do.     Dr  Beattie  will  give  a  voice 
to  ail  the  mute  objects  I  now  admire,  and  lead  me  farther  in  virtue 
and  wisdom  than  I  can  advance  by  myself;  so  he  must  e>:cnse  my 
^eing  impatient  to  see  him. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  197 

"  I  wish  very  much  for  your  being  presented  to  the  Queen  ;  I 
take  her  to  be  a  sovereign  judge  of  merit,  and  I  do  not  doubt  of  her 
being  as  gracious  to  you  as  his  Majesty,  and  with  the  same  elegance 
and  propriety  of  manner.  As  I  have  a  most  loyal  respect  for  the 
King,  I  have  always  taken  great  delight  in  the  peculiar  elegance  of 
his  language.  It  is  a  very  essential  thing  in  such  great  personages, 
whose  words  are  always  remembered,  often  repeated.  I  am  ex- 
tremely pleased  with  the  obliging  attentions  the  Eishop  of  Ches- 
ter* shewed  to  you;  his  regard  does  honour.  He  is  much 
respected." 

LETTER  LXVIIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Arno's  Grove,  26th  July,  1773. 

"  YOUR  most  obliging  and  most  excellent  letter,  of  the  14th 
current,  bore  the  impression  of  Socrates  on  the  outside,  t  but  judg- 
ment, better  than  that  of  Socrates,  spoke  within.  He,  if  I  mistake 
not,  piqued  himself  on  having  constantly  resided  in  Athens,  and 
used  to  say,  that  he  found  no  instruction  in  stones  or  trees ;  but 
you,  madam,  better  skilled  in  the  human  heart,  and  more 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  its  sublimer  affections,  do  justly 
consider  that  quiet  which  the  country  affords,  and  those  soothing 
and  elevating  sentiments,  which  "  rural  sights  and  rural  sounds" 
so  powerfully  inspire,  as  necessary  to  purify  the  soul,  and  raise  it 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  first  and  greatest  good.  Yet,  I  think, 
you  rightly  determine,  that  absolute  solitude  is  not  good  for  us. 
The  social  affections  must  be  cherished,  if  we  would  keep  both 
mind  and  body  in  good  health.  The  virtues  are  all  so  nearly 
allied,  and  sympathize  so  strongly  with  each  other,  that  if  one  is 
borne  down,  all  the  rest  feel  it,  and  have  a  tendency  to  pine  away. 
The  more  we  love  one  another,  the  more  we  shall  love  our  Maker; 
and  if  we  fail  in  duty  to  our  common  parent,  our  brethren  of  man- 
kind will  soon  discover  that  we  fail  in  duty  to  them  also. 

*  Tlie  present  Lord  Archbishop  oi"  York. 

t  This  letter  was  sealed  with  !i  Iiead  of  Socrate?. 


198  LIFE  OF  DR  BfiATTIE. 

"  In  my  youn.^er  days,  I  was  much  attached  to  solitude,  and 
could  have  envit  d  even  "  The  shepherd  of  the  Hebride  isles, 
"  placed  amid  the  melancholy  main."  I  wrote  Odes  to  Retirement ; 
and  wished  to  be  conducted  to  its  deepest  groves,  remote  from 
every  rude  sound,  and  from  every  vagrant  foot.  In  a  word,  I 
thought  the  most  profovmd  solitude  the  best.  But  I  have  now 
changed  my  mind.  Those  solemn  and  incessent  energies  of 
imagination,  which  naturally  take  place  in  such  a  state,  arc  fatal  to 
the  health  and  spirits,  and  tend  to  make  us  more  and  more  unfit  for 
the  business  of  life  :  the  soul,  deprived  of  those  ventilations  of  pas- 
sion, which  arise  from  social  intercourse,  is  reduced  to  a  state  of 
stagnation,  and,  if  she  is  not  of  a  very  pure  consistence  indeed, 
will  be  apt  to  breed  within  herself  many  "  monstrous,  and  many 
"  prodigious  things,"  of  which  she  will  find  it  no  easy  matter  to  rid 
herself,  even  when  she  has  become  sensible  of  their  noxious  na- 
ture." 


LETTER  LXIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

London,  21st  Aug-ust,  1773. 

"  I  HAVE  at  last  received  a  letter  from  Mr  Robinson,*  dated 
yesterday,  in  which  he  tells  me,  "  that  he  is  desired  by  Lord  North 
"  to  inform  me  that  his  majesty  has  been  pleased  to  consent,  that 
"  a  pension  be  paid  me,  of  two  hundred  pounds  a-year."  Mr 
Robinson  says,  he  will  order  the  warrant  to  be  made  out  for  me 
immediately,  and  desires  me  to  call  for  it  at  the  treasury;  which  I 
shall  do  on  Monday. 

"  And  now,  madam,  allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  the  happy 
conclusion  of  this  affair ;  for  sure  I  am,  you  will  take  as  much 
pleasure  in  it  as  I  do.  You  may  believe,  I  shall  never  forget  from 
whom  this  long  series  of  applications  took  its  rise.  But  I  shall 
not  at  present  enter  on  this  subject.  I  fear  it  will  not  be  in  my 
power  to  set  out  for  Sandleford,  till  towards  the  end  of  the  week, 

•  At  that  time  secretary  of  the  treasury. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  199 

as  I  have  the  warrant  to  get  from  the  treasury,  the  court  to  attend, 
and  a  multitude  ef  letters  to  write,  to  the  Archbishop  ot  York, 
Lord  Kinnouil,  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton,  Lord  North,  &c.  &c.  As 
soon  as  I  can  possibly  fix  a  time  for  setting  out,  1  will  write  to  you. 
Meantime,  I  beg  to  hear  some  account  of  your  health. 

"  It  is  very  good  in  you,  madam,  to  flatter  me  with  the  hopes, 
that  still  better  things  may  be  in  reserve  for  me.  But  1  assure  you, 
I  think  myself  I'ewarded  above  my  deservings,  and  shall  most  will- 
ingly sit  down  contented : — not  to  eat,  or  drink,  or  be  idle,  but  to 
make  such  a  use  of  the  goodness  of  Providence,  and  his  Majesty's 
bounty,  as  the  public  has  a  right  to  require  of  me.  What  I  have 
now  got,  added  lo  the  emoluments  of  my  present  office,  will  enable 
me  to  live  independently  and  comiortabiy  in  Scotland,  and  to  culti- 
vate those  connexions  and  friendships  in  England,  which  do  me  so 
much  honour.  But  more  of  this,  when  I  have  the  happiness  to 
see  you. 

"  I  am  ashamed  to  send  you  so  shabby  a  letter,  all  made  up  of 
shreds  and  patches.  It  is  by  mistake,  owing  to  hurry,  that  I  write 
on  so  many  bits  of  paper  ;  but  as  the  post  is  just  going  out,  I  have 
no  time  to  transcribe  ;  and  I  would  not  keep  back  this  intelligence 
for  a  single  day. 

"  1  have  another  piece  of  news  to  tell  you,  which  will  give  you 
pleasure.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  with  whom  I  formerly  told  you 
that  I  have  the  happiness  to  be  particularly  acquainted,  and  whose 
talents,  both  as  a  painter,  and  as  a  critic  and  philosopher,  I  take  to 
be  of  the  very  first  rate,  has  planned  out  a  sort  of  allegorical  picture, 
representing  the  triumph  of  truth  over  scepticism  and  infidelity. 
At  one  corner  of  the  pictur?,  m  the  fore-ground,  stands  your  hum- 
ble servant,  as  large  as  life,  arrayed  in  a  Doctor  of  Laws'  gown  and 
band,  with  his  "  Essay  on  Truth"  under  his  arm.  At  some  little 
distance  appears  "  Truth,"  habited  as  an  angel,  with  a  sun  on  her 
breast,  who  is  to  act  such  a  part  with  respect  to  the  sceptic  and  in- 
fidel, as  shall  show,  that  they  are  not  willing  to  see  the  light, 
though  they  have  the  opportunity.  My  face  (for  which  I  sat)  is 
finished,  and  is  a  most  striking  likeness  ;  only,  I  believe,  it  will  be 
allowed,  that  Sir  Joshua  is  more  liberal  in  the  articles  of  spirit  and 
dcgancc  than  his  friend  Nature  thought  proper  to  be.  The  angel 
also  is  finished,  and  is  an  admirable  figure  :  and  Sir  Joshua  is  de- 
termined to  complete  the  whole  with  all  expedition,  and  to  have  a 


200  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

print  done  from  it.  Fie  is  very  happy  in  this  invention,  which  is 
entirely  his  own.  Indeed  if  I  had  been  qualified  to  give  any  hints 
on  the  subject,  (which  is  not  at  all  the  case)  you  will  readily  believe, 
that  I  would  not  be  instrumental  in  forwarding  a  work  that  is  so 
very  flattering  to  me.  The  picture  will  appear  at  the  Exhibition  ; 
but  whether  Sir  Joshua  means  to  keep  it,  or  dispose  of  it,  is- not,  I 
believe,  determined." 


LETTER  LXX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  EARL  OF   KINNOULL. 

London,  29th  August,  1773. 

«  MRS  MONTAGU'S  state  of  health  is  very  indifferent ;  she. 
complains  of  a  feverish  disorder,  which  has  haunted  her  the  great- 
est part  of  the  summer.  She  is  greatly  afflicted  at  the  death  of  our 
great  and  good  friend.  Lord  Lytteiton.  This  event  was  unexpected  r 
it  is  little  better  than  a  fortnight,  since  I  received  a  very  kind  letter 
from  him.  The  loss  to  his  friends,  and  to  society,  is  unspeakable, 
and  irreparable  :  to  himself  his  death  is  infinite  gain  ;  for  whether 
we  consider  what  he  felt  here,  or  what  he  hoped  for  hereafter,  we 
must  admit,  that  no  man  ever  had  more  reason  to  wish  for  a  dis- 
mission from  the  evils  of  this  transitory  life.  His  lordship  died, 
as  he  lived,  a  most  illustrious  example  of  every  Christian  virtue. 
His  last  breath  was  spent  in  comforting  and  instructing  his  friends. 
"  Be  good  and  virtuous,"  said  he,  to  Lord  Valencia,*  "  for  know 
"  that  to  this  you  must  come."  The  devout  and  cheerful  resigna- 
tion, that  occupied  his  mind  during  his  illness,  did  not  forsake  him 
in  the  moment  of  dissolution,  but  fixed  a  smile  on  his  lifeless  coun- 
tenance. I  sincerely  sympathize  with  your  Lordship,  on  the  loss 
of  this  excellent  man.  Since  I  came  last  to  town,  I  have  had  the 
honour  and  happiness  to  pass  many  an  hour  in  his  company,  and 
to  converse  with  him  on  all  subjects  :  and  I  hope  I  shall  be  the  bet- 
ter, while  I  live,  for  what  I  have  seen,  and  what  I  have  heard,  of 
Lord  Lytteiton." 

*  Ilis  son-3n-lu\v. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  201 


LETTER  LXXI. 


THE  LORD  ARCHBISHOP  OF  YORK*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Brodswortli,  September  11th,  1773. 

"  YOUR  letter,  which  gave  me  the  pleasure  of  hearing  of 
his  Majesty's  benevolence  to  you,  went  to  Scotland,  just  as  I  left  it, 
and  came  back  here,  t'other  day  ;  otherwise  I  should  appear  very 
tardy,  in  expressing  the  sensible  satisfaction  which  I  have,  in  your 
being  rewarded,  though  not  to  the  full  of  your  merit,  yet  by  a  per- 
sonal mark  of  the  King's  favour,  and- well-grounded  opinion. 

"  I  look  upon  this,  not  only  as  a  distinguished  reward  of  your 
merit,  in  the  cause  of  virtue  and  truth,  but  as  a  beacon  to  those 
who  are  tossed  about  among  the  waves  of  infidelity.  I  believe,  as 
I  hope,  that  it  will,  in  di  general  light  do  good;  and  that  is  the  great 
purpose  of  the  King;  which  he  declared  to  ?«?,  when  he  first  came 
to  the  crown  ;  and  you  are  one  happy  instrument,  that  carries  this 
purpose  forward,  by  your  constant  labours  in  defence  of  truth. 

"  I  hope  this  pension  will  make  you  tolerably  easy :  whether  it 
will  so  far  procure  you  comfort,  as  that  you  should  relinquish 
other  views,  you  best  know.  I  am  clear,  that  this  was  the  right 
plan  at  present,  as  the  circumstances  and  opportunities  presented 
themselves. 

"  I  wrote  to  Lord  Kinnoull,  as  soon  as  I  got  your  letter,  and  it 

will  give  him  great  pleasure.    I  have  since  seen , 

who  is  much  pleased,  both  upon  your  account,  and  the  service  it 
may  do  to  many  people,  particularly  in  Scotland,  who  run  astray. 

"  I  am  sorry  you  give  so  indifferent  an  account  of  my  excellent 
friend,  Mrs  Montagu;  and  rather  a  poor  one  of  your  own,  and  Mrs 
Beattie's  health. 

"  Don't  drop  your  correspondence,  which  will  be  always  agree- 
able to  me." 

•  The  Honourable  and  Most  Reverend  Dr  Robert  Hay  Drummond,  bro- 
ther to  the  Earl  of  Kinnoull,  at  that  time  Lord  Archbishop  of  York. 

2  e 


k 


203  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE, 


LETTER  LXXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 


Aberdeen,  15th  October,  1773. 

''  I  PURPOSELY  delayed  for  a  few  days  to  answei'  your  let- 
ter, that  I  might  be  at  leisure  to  think  seriously,  before  I  should 
venture  to  give  my  opinion,  in  regard  to  the  important  matter, 
about  which  you  did  me  the  honour  to  consult  me.  A  religious 
education  is  indeed  the  greatest  of  all  earthly  blessings  to  a  young 
man;  especially  in  these  days,  when  one  is  in  such  danger  of  re- 
ceiving impressions  of  a  contrary  tendency.  I  hope,  and  earnestly 
wish,  that  this,  and  every  other  blessing,  may  be  the  lot  of  your 
nephew,  who  seems  to  be  accomplished,  and  promising,  far  be- 
yond his  years. 

"  I  must  confess,  I  am  strongly  prepossessed  in  favour  of  that 
mode  of  education  that  takes  place  in  the  English  Universities.  I 
am  well  aware,  at  the  same  time,  that  in  those  seminaries,  there 
are,  to  some  young  men,  many  more  temptations  to  idleness  and 
dissipation,  than  in  our  colleges  in  Scotland  ;  but  there  are  also,  if 
I  mistake  not,  better  opportunities  of  study  to  a  studious  young 
man,  and  the  advantages  of  a  more  respectable  and  more  polite  so- 
ciety, to  such  as  are  discreet  and  sober.  The  most  valuable  parts 
of  human  literature,  I  mean  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  are  not 
so  completely  taught  in  Scotland  as  in  England  ;  and  I  fear  it  is 
no  advantage,  I  have  sometimes  known  it  a  misfortune,  to  those 
young  men  of  distinction  that  come  to  study  with  us,  that  they  find 
too  easy,  and  too  favourable  an  admittance  to  balls,  assemblies,  and 
other  diversions  of  a  like  kind,  where  the  fashion  not  only  permits, 
but  requires,  that  a  particular  attention  be  paid  to  the  younger  part 
of  the  female  world.  A  youth  of  fortune,  with  the  Englisii  lan- 
guage, and  English  address,  soon  becomes  an  object  of  considera- 
tion to  a  raw  girl ;  and  equally  so,  perhaps,  though  not  altogether 
on  the  same  account,  to  her  parents.  Our  long  vacations,  too,  in 
the  colleges  in  Scotland,  though  a  convenience  to  the  native  stu- 
dent, (who  commonly  spends  those  intervals  at  home  with  his  pa- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  203 

rents)  are  often  dangerous  to  the  students  from  England  ;  who 
bemg  then  set  free  from  the  restrahits  of  academical  discipline, 
and  at  a  distance  from  their  parents  or  guardians,  are  too  apt  to 
forget,  that  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  study,  not  of  amusement,  they 
were  sent  into  this  country. 

"  All,  or  most  of  these  inconveniences,  may  be  avoided  at  an 
English  university,  provided  a  youth  have  a  discreet  tutor,  and  be 
himself  of  a  sober  and  studious  disposition.  There,  classical  eru- 
dition receives  all  the  attentions  and  honours  it  can  claim ;  and 
there  the  French  philosophy,  of  course,  is  seldom  held  in  very 
high  estimation  ;  there,  at  present,  a  regard  to  religion  is  fashion- 
able ;  there,  the  recluseness  of  a  college-life,  the  wholesome  severi- 
ties of  academical  discipline,  the  authority  of  the  university,  and 
several  other  circumstances  I  could  mention,  prove  very  powerful 
restmints  to  such  of  the  youth  as  have  any  sense  of  true  honour,  or 
any  regard  to  their  real  interest. 

"  We,  in  Scotland,  boast  of  our  professors,  that  they  give  regu- 
lar lectures  in  all  the  sciences,  which  the  students  are  obliged  to 
attend ;  a  part  of  literary  economy  which  is  but  little  attended  to 
in  the  universities  of  England.  But  I  will  venture  to  affirm,  from 
experience,  that  if  a  professor  does  no  more  than  deliver  a  set  of 
lectures,  his  young  audience  will  be  little  the  wiser  for  having  at- 
tended him.  The  most  profitable  part  of  my  time  is  that  which  I 
employ  in  examinations,  or  in  Socratical  dialogue  with  my  pupils, 
or  in  commenting  upon  ancient  authors,  all  which  may  be  done  by 
a  tutor  in  a  private  apai-tment,  as  well  as  by  a  professor  in  a  public 
school.  Lectures  indeed  I  do,  and  must  give  ;  in  order  to  add  so- 
lemnity to  the  truths  I  Avould  inculcate  ;  and  partly  too,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  fashion,  and  for  the  sake  of  my  own  character  ; 
(for  this,  though  not  the  most  difficult  part  of  our  business,  is  that 
which  shows  the  speaker  to  most  advantage)  but  I  have  always 
found  the  other  methods,  particularly  the  Socratic  form  of  dia- 
logue, much  more  effectual  in  fixing  the  attention,  and  improving 
the  faculties  of  the  student., 

I  will  not,  madam,  detain  you  longer  with  this  comparison  :  it 
is  my  duty  to  give  you  my  real  sentiments,  and  you  will  be  able  to 
gather  them  from  these  imperfect  liints.  If  it  is  determined  that 
your  nephew  shall  be  sent  to  a  university  in  Scotland,  he  may,  I 
believe,  have  as  good  a  chance  for  improvement  at  Edinburgh  or 


204  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Glasgow,  as  at  any  other :  if  the  law  is  to  form  any  part  of  his  stu- 
dies, he  ought  by  all  means,  to  go  to  one  or  other  of  these  places  ;  as 
we  have  no  law-professors  in  any  other  part  of  this  kingdom,  ex- 
cept one  in  King's  college,  Aberdeen,  whose  office  has  been  a 
sinecure  for  several  generations.  Whether  he  should  make  choice 
of  Edinburgh  or  of  Glasgow,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  say  :  I  was  formerly 
well  enough  acquainted  with  the  professors  of  both  those  societies, 
but  temjiora  mutantur.  Dr  Reid  is  a  very  learned,  ingenious,  and 
worthy  man,  so  is  Dr  Blair  ;  they  are  both  clergymen  ;  so  that,  I 
am  confident,  your  nephew  might  lodge  safely  and  profitably  with 
cither.  Whether  they  would  choose  to  accept  of  the  office  of  tutor 
to  any  young  gentleman,  they  themselves  only  can  determine  j 
some  professors  would  decline  it,  on  account  of  the  laboriousness 
of  their  office  :  it  is  partly  on  this  account,  but  chiefly  on  account 
of  my  health,  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  decline  every  ofier  of  this 
sort." 


LETTER  LXXIII. 


MRS  MONTAGU*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Sandleford,  September  5th,  1772. 

"  PRAY  have  you  met  with  Mr  Jones's  imitations  of  the 
Asiatic  poetry  ?  He  possesses  the  oriental  languages  in  a  very  ex- 
traoi'dinary  manner,  and  he  seems  to  me  a  great  master  of  versifi- 
cation. I  wish  he  had  given  us  translations,  rather  than  imitations, 
as  one  is  curious  to  see  the  manner  of  thinking  of  a  people  born 
under  so  different  a  climate,  educated  in  such  a  different  manner, 
and  subjects  of  so  different  a  government.  There  is  a  gaiety  and 
splendour  in  the  poems,  which  is  naturally  derived  from  the  happy 
soil  and  climate  of  the  poets,  and  they  breathe  Asiatic  luxury,  or  else 
Mr  Jones  is,  himself,  a  man  of  a  most  splendid  imagination.  The 
descriptions  are  so  fine,  and  all  the  objects  are  so  brilliant,  that  the 
sense  akes  at  them^  and  I  wished  that  Ossian's  poems  had  been  lay- 

•  This  letter  should  have  been  inserted  at  p.  161.  before  letter  LVH. 
which  is  in  answer  to  it. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  205 

ing  by  me,  that  I  mit^ht  sometimes  have  turned  my  eyes,  from  the 
dazzling  splendour  of  the  eastern  noonday,  to  the  moonlight  pic- 
ture of  a  bleak  mountain.  Every  object  in  these  Asiatic  pieces, 
is  blooming  and  beautiful ;  every  plant  is  odoriferous  ;  the  passions, 
too,  are  of  the  sort  which  belong  to  paradise.  These  things,  as 
rarities  brought  from  Arabia  Felix,  would  give  one  great  pleasure  ; 
but,  when  I  am  not  sure  they  are  not  the  dreams  of  a  man  who  is 
shivering  under  a  hawthorn  hedge,  in  a  north-east  wind,  I  cannot 
I'esign  myself  enough  to  the  delusion,  to  sympathize  with  them. 
Mr  Jones  has  written  some  critical  dissertations  at  the  end  of  his 
poems,  which,  I  think,  shew  him  a  man  of  good  taste.*' 


In  the  month  of  October,  1 773,  the  chair  of  professor  of  natural 
and  experimental  philosophy,  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
became  vacant,  by  the  death  of  Dr  James  Russel,  by  whom  it  had 
been  long  ably  filled.  As  that  event  had  been  for  sometime  fore- 
seen, several  gentlemen  had  turned  their  thoughts  towards  it,  as 
candidates.  But  the  magistrates,  who  are  the  electors,  very  pro- 
perly resolved  to  be  in  no  hurry  in  filling  vip  the  vacancy,  in  order 
that  there  might  be  time  and  opportunity  to  dispose  of  the  chair 
in  such  a  manner,  as  might  best  support  the  reputation  of  the  uni- 
versity. As  the  winter  session  was  soon  to  open,  however,  Dr 
Fergusson,  professor  of  moral  philosophy,  agreed  in  the  mean 
time,  to  deliver  lectures  also  in  natural  philosophy,  which  he  had 
formerly  taught. 

A  few  days  after  the  death  of  Dr  Russel,  I  received  a  visit  from 
one  of  the  magistrates,  who  was  of  my  particular  acquaintance, 
and  who  knew  my  intimacy  with  Dr  Beattie.  He  came  to  inform 
me,  he  said,  that  several  of  the  members  of  the  town  council  kept 
themselves  disengaged,  until  they  should  know  whether  Dr  Beattie 
meant  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  chair.  They  were 
aware,  he  added,  that  Dr  Beattie's  eminence  lay  in  another  branch 
of  science  ;  but  he  said,  he  believed  Dr  Fergusson,  who  had  for- 
merly taught  the  class  of  natural  philosophy,  would  be  well  pleased 
to  resume  it,  and  thereby  leave  the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  open 
for  Dr  Beattie,  which,  he  made  no  doubt,  his  high  reputation 
would  readily  secure  for  him.     I  thanked  the  gentleman  for  this 


206  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

warm  expression  of  his  esteem  of  Dr  Beattie,  on  which  I  set  the 
hig-her  vakie,  from  being  absolutely  certain  that  they  were  strangers 
to  each  other ;  and  that  he  interested  himself,  therefore,  for  Dr 
Beattie,  merely  from  the  consideration  of  his  singular  merit,  and 
from  a  regard  for  the  prosperity  and  reputation  of  the  imiversity 
of  Edinburgh.  For  although  a  set  of  civil  magistrates,  very  little, 
if  at  all,  acquainted  with  science,  or  the  merits  of  scientific  men, 
may  seem  but  indifferently  qualified  for  the  choice  of  professors  of 
a  university  ;  yet  it  is  a  fact,  which  reflects  no  little  credit  on  the 
magistrates  of  Edinburgh,  that,  in  the  election  of  professors,  they 
have  very  seldom  allowed  themselves  to  be  swayed  by  political  in- 
terests ;  but  have  generally  elected  those,  who  have  been  deemed 
best  qualified  to  fill  the  vacant  chairs  ;  justly  considering  the  repu- 
tation and  prosperity  of  the  university  to  be  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  welfare  of  the  city. 

I  lost  no  time  in  communicating  this  intelligence  to  Dr  Beattie. 
I  well  recollected,  indeed,  the  aversion  he  had  shown,  from  becom- 
ing a  member  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  on  a  former  occasion, 
when  a  vacancy  of  the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  was  likely  to  take 
place ;  but  I  knew  not  whether  he  might  still  be  of  the  same  mind, 
or  whether  the  same  reasons  still  subsisted,  which  had  weighed 
with  him  at  that  period  ;  and  therefore,  I  left  it  for  himself  to  de- 
cide, what  he  should  judge  to  be  most  conducive  to  his  interest,  or 
most  consistent  with  his  wishes.  He  well  knew  the  earnest  desire 
I  had,  that  he  should  think  of  removing  to  Edinburgh,  because 
I  judged  he  might  have  it  in  his  power  to  do  more  good  here, 
than  where  he  then  was,  by  his  talents  having  a  wider  range,  and 
greater  scope  for  the  exertion  of  their  influence.  Perhaps,  too,  I 
will  not  deny,  I  may  have  been  somewhat  actuated  by  the  selfish 
motive  of  his  being  brought  nearer  to  his  friends  in  Edinburgh ; 
and  our  enjoying  still  more  the  happiness  of  his  society. 

The  following  letter  is  the  answer  I  received  to  the  communica- 
tion I  made  to  him  on  the  subject. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  207 


LETTER  LXXIV. 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  22d  October,  1773. 

"  THE  late  arrival  of  the  post  yesterday,  put  it  out  of  my 
power  to  answer  your  most  obliging  letter  in  course.  I  shall  not, 
at  present,  attempt  to  tell  you  (indeed  I  could  not)  how  much  my 
heart  is  touched,  by  the  many  kind  and  generous  expressions  of 
friendship,  contained  in  your  excellent  letter :  to  be  honoured  with 
so  great  a  share  of  the  esteem  and  affections  of  such  persons  as  you, 
is  surely  of  all  earthly  blessings  the  greatest.  But  I  shall  proceed 
to  business,  without  further  preamble. 

"  Some  years  ago,  I  should  have  thought  myself  a  very  great 
gainer,  by  exchanging  my  pi'esent  office  with  a  professorship  in 
the  university  of  Edinburgh.  Such  an  event  would  have  doubled 
my  income,  without  subjecting  me  to  one  half  of  the  labour  which 
I  now  undergo.  But  those  were  only  secondary  considerations. 
My  attachment  to  Edinburgh  arose,  chiefly,  from  my  liking  to 
the  people  ;  and  surely  it  was  natural  enough  for  me  to  love  a 
place,  in  which  I  had,  and  still  have,  some  of  the  dearest  and  best 
friends,  that  ever  man  was  blessed  with.  Nor  had  I  then  any  rea- 
son to  fear,  that  either  my  principles,  or  the  general  tenor  of  my 
conduct,  could  ever  raise  me  enemies  in  any  christian  society  ;  it 
having  been,  ever  since  I  had  any  thing  to  do  in  the  world,  my  con- 
stant purpose  to  do  my  duty,  and  promote  peace  ;  and  my  singu- 
lar good  fortune,  to  obtain  from  all  who  knew  me  a  share  of  esteem 
and  regard,  equal  to  my  wishes,  and  greater  than  my  deservings. 
Nor,  at  this  time,  are  my  affections  to  Edinburgh  at  all  diminished. 
I  am  still  known  to  some  members  of  that  university,  whose  talents, 
and  whose  virtues,  I  hold  in  the  highest  estimation,  and  with  whom 
I  should  account  it  my  honour,  to  be  more  nearly  connected  ;  and 
the  favours  I  have  received  from  very  many  persons  of  distinction 
in  the  place,  demand  my  most  hearty  acknowledgments,  and  shall 
ever  be  cherished  in  my  remembrance,  with  every  sentiment  that 
the  warmest  gratitude  can  inspire. 


208  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  And  yet,  my  dear  friend,  there  are  reasons,  and  those  of  no 
small  moment,  which  determine  me  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of 
appearing  as  a  candidate,  on  the  present  occasion;  and  which 
would  determine  me  to  this,  even  though  I  were  absolutely  certain 
of  being  elected.  Nay,  though  my  fortune  were  ^s  narrow  now,  as 
it  lately  was,  I  should  still  incline  rather  to  remain  in  quiet  Avhere 
I  am,  than,  by  becoming  a  member  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
to  place  myself  within  the  reach  of  those,  (few  as  they  are)  who 
have  been  pleased  to  let  the  world  know,  that  they  do  not  wish  me 
well ;  not  that  I  have  any  reason  to  mind  their  enmity,  or  to  dread 
its  consequences.  They  must  not  flatter  themselves,  that  they 
have  ever  been  able  as  yet  to  give  me  a  moment's  uneasiness, 
notwithstanding  the  zeal  with  which  they  have  spoken  against  me. 
My  cause  is  so  good,  that  he,  who  espouses  it,  can  never  have 
occasion  to  be  afraid  of  any  man.  I  know  my  own  talents,  and  I 
am  not  ignorant  of  theirs  ;  I  do  not  (God  knows)  think  highly  of 
the  foniier,  indeed  I  have  no  reason  ;  but  I  am  under  no  sort  of 
apprehension  in  regard  to  the  latter ;  and  as  to  the  esteem  of 
others,  I  have  no  fear  of  losing  it,  so  long  as  I  do  nothing  to  ren- 
der me  unworthy  of  it.  But  I  am  so  great  a  lover  of  peace,  and 
so  wining  to  think  well  of  all  my  neighbours,  that  I  do  not  wish  to 
be  connected  even  with  one  person  who  dislikes  me. 

"  Had  I  ever  injured  the  persons  whom  I  allude  to,  I  might  have 
hoped  to  regain  their  favour  by  submission,  (which  in  that  case 
Avould  have  become  me)  and  by  a  change  of  conduct.  But,  as  they 
are  singular  enough  to  hate  me  for  having  done  my  duty,  and  for 
what,  I  trust,  (with  God's  help)  I  shall  never  cease  to  do,  (I  mean, 
for  endeavouring  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  truth,  with  that  zeal 
which  so  important  a  cause  requires)  I  could  never  hope  that  they 
would  live  with  me  on  those  agreeable  terms,  on  which  I  desire  to 
live  with  all  good  men,  and  on  which,  by  the  blessing  of  providence, 
I  have  the  honour  and  the  happiness  to  live  with  so  great  a  num- 
ber of  the  most  respectable  persons  of  this  age. 

"  I  must  therefore,  my  dear  friend,  make  it  my  request  to  you, 
that  you  would,  in  better  terms  than  any  I  can  suggest,  in  terms  of 
the  most  ardent  gratitude,  and  most  zealous  attachment,  return  my 
best  thanks  to  the  gentlemen  of  your  council,  for  the  very  great 
honovu'  they  have  been  pleased  to  confer  upon  me ;  and  tell  them, 
that  the  city  and  university  of  Edinburgh  shall  ever  have  my  sin- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  209 

cerest  good  wishes,  and  that  it  will  be  the  study  of  my  life,  to  act 
such  a  part,  as  may,  in  some  measure,  justify  their  good  opinion ; 
but  that  I  must,  for  several  weighty  reasons,  decline  appearing  as  a 
candidate,  for  the  present  vacant  professorship." 


In  consequence  of  this  reply  from  Dr  Beattie,  which,  of  course, 
I  communicated  to  the  gentleman,  who  had  addressed  himself  to 
me  on  the  subject,  I  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  the  matter. 

Some  months  afterwards,  Dr  Beattie  informed  me,  that  some 
person,  no  doubt  with  a  friendly  intention,  without  his  knowledge, 
had  told  Lord  Dartmouth,  that  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  profes- 
sorship ;  on  which  his  Lordship  had  written  to  Sir  Adolphus 
Oughton,  offering  his  services  to  promote  Dr  Beattie's  views.  In 
consequence  of  this  communication  he  wrote  to  me,  expressing  his 
regret  that  his  friends  should  have  had  so  much  trouble  on  his  ac- 
count ;  that  he  had  in  part  communicated  to  Sir  Adolphus  his 
reasons  for  declining  to  be  a  candidate,  but  had  referred  him  to  me 
for  further  particulars,  and  desired  me  to  shew  to  Sir  Adolphus 
Oughton  his  letter  to  me  of  the  2 2d  October,  which  I  accordingly 
did.  When  Sir  Adolphus  sent  it  back  to  me,  he  accompanied  it 
with  the  following  note.  "  Returns  to  him  Dr  Beattie's  very  judi- 
"  cious  letter.  Sir  A.  imagines  it  was  a  view  of  serving  the  worthy 
"  Doctor,  and  rendering  him  more  diffusively  useful  to  his  fellow 
"  subjects,  not  any  solicitations  from  hence,  that  induced  his 
"  Majesty's  confidential  servants  to  wish  he  might  fill  the  moral 
"  philosophy  chair  at  Edinburgh." 

When  I  sent  him  this  communication  from  our  mutual  friend, 
I  wrote  to  him  at  the  same  time  to  the  following  effect.  "  Since 
"  that  time,  I  have  had  occasion  to  hear  the  sentiments  of  many  of 
"  your  warmest  friends,  as  well  as  of  many  persons  of  respectable 
"  character,  who,  like  numberless  others,  have  attached  themselves 
"  to  you,  without  a  personal  acquaintance,  and  all  join,  with  one 
"  voice,  in  expressing  their  wishes  that  you  could  be  prevailed  on 
"  to  think  more  favourably  of  changing  your  present  situation, 
"  But  what  induces  me  to  resume  this  subject  particularly  at 
"  present,  is  a  conversation  which  I  had  yesterday  at  New  Hailes. 
"  I  chanced  to  have  your  two  letters  in  my  pocket,  which  I  gave  to 

2d 


210  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Lord  Hailes  to  read  :  *  knowing  how  highly  he  esteems  you,  and 
"  how  excellent  a  judge  he  is  of  every  point  like  that  in  question. 
"  His  Lordship  expressed  the  greatest  concern  at  the  reluctance 
"  you  show  against  coming  to  Edinburgh,  and  more  than  once  re- 
"  peated,  that  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  say  all  that  he  could  say  on  that 
"  head.  He  was  kind  enough  to  request  I  would  write  to  you,  that 
"  such  were  his  sentiments  ;  and  to  beseech  you  to  treat  with  the 
"  greatest  contempt  any  idea  of  your  meeting  with  any  thing  disa- 

*  Sh'  David  Dalrymple,  baronet,  one  of  the  jiidj^es  of  the  supreme  courts 
of  civil  and  criminal  law  of  Scotland,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Hailes  ;  very  emi- 
nent as  a  scholar,  and  particularly  as  an  antiquarian.  His  "  Annals  of  Scot- 
"  land"  is  a  masterly  performance,  in  which,  and  in  some  detached  pieces  of 
historical  research,  he  was  the  first  to  elucidate  properly  the  early  part  of  the 
history  of  our  country ;  and  it  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  he  has  not  brought 
his  work  down  to  a  later  period,  as  it  stops  at  a  time  when  the  history  was 
becoming  more  and  more  interesting,  and  his  materials  more  copious.  **  The 
"  case  of  the  Sutherland-peerage,"  although  originally  a  law  paper,  written 
professionally  when  he  was  at  the  bar,  at  the  time  when  the  title  of  the  young 
Countess  to  the  honours  of  her  ancestors  was  called  in  question,  is  one  of  the 
most  profound  disquisitions  on  the  ancient  peerages  of  Scotland  any  where 
to  be  met  with. 

In  his  other  publications,  which  were  numerous,  he  chiefly  appears  in  the 
character  of  an  editor.  Among  these,  he  translated  and  printed  some  fa- 
vourite passages  from  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Eusebius,  and  other 
writers,  respecting  the  early  history  of  tlie  Christian  church.  In  those  pub- 
lications he  never  omitted  any  opportunity  of  exposing  the  mistakes  and  mis- 
representations of  Gibbon,  in  professed  opposition  to  whom.  Lord  Hailes 
wrote  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  secondary  Causes  which  Mr  Gibbon  has  assigned 
"  for  the  rapid  growtli  of  Christianity,"  which  is  justly  considered  as  one  of 
the  ablest  replies  that  have  appeared  in  opposition  to  the  sneers  against 
Clirlslianity,  so  frequently  to  be  met  with  in  the  works  of  that  popular,  but 
artful  and  dangerous  writer.  As  a  proof  of  his  attention  to  every  thing  that 
concerned  religion  and  good  morals,  the  following  incident  should  not  be 

omitted. Two  vessels,  bound  from  London  to  Lelth,  were  cast  away  on 

the  coast  between  Dunbar  and  North  Berwick,  and  two-and-twenty  persons 
drowned  ;  the  wrecks  having  been  shamefully  pillaged  by  the  country-people. 
Lord  Hailes  immediately  wrote  a  pamphlet,  with  the  title  of  "  A  Sermon 
"  which  might  have  been  preached  in  East  Lothian  upon  tlie  25th  day  of 
*'  October  1761,  on  Acts  xxvii.  1,  2,  The  barbarous  people  shotued  us  no  little 
"  Jtindness."  This  he  caused  to  be  printed,  and  dispersed  among  the  country 
people  in  the  neighbourhood,  where  the  fataldisaster  had  happened.  It  is  a 
most  affecting  discourse,  admirably  calculated  to  convince  the  offenders ; 
and  the  effect  of  it  is  said  to  have  been  such,  that  several  parcels  of  the  goods. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  211 

"  greeable  in  carrying  this  removal  into  execution.  For  he  added, 
"  what  I  most  firmly  believe  to  be  the  truth,  that  he  apprehended 
"  many  of  what  appeared  unpleasant  circumstances  to  you  would 
"  totally  vanish,  or  that,  in  all  events,  you  ought  to  be  greatly  su- 
'•  perior  to  any  such  fears." 

So  anxious  was  Lord  Hailes  on  this  subject,  that  next  day  he 
wrote  to  me  no  less  than  two  letters,  which  I  failed  not  to  transmit, 
by  the  first  post,  to  Dr  Beattie. 


LETTER  LXXV. 


LORD  HAILES  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

New  Hailes,  15th  April,  1774, 

"  I  AM  sorry  to  understand  that  Dr  Beattie  expresses  a 
great  unwillingness  at  being  proposed  to  fill  the  chair  of  moral 
philosophy  at  Edinburgh,  which,  in  all  probability,  will  soon  be 
vacant. 

"  If  the  Doctor  thinks  he  can  be  as  generally  useful  where  he 
is,  he  cannot  be  blamed  for  wishing  to  continue  where  he  is.  But 
if  he  is  persuaded  that  his  sphere  of  usefulness  may  be  enlarged, 
by  his  removal  to  Edinburgh,  I  do  not  see  how  he  can,  in  consist- 
ency with  his  known  principles,  decline  that  station,  where  he  will 
be  more  known,  and  have  a  more  ample  field  of  benefiting  the 
rising  generation. 

that  had  been  plundered,  were  brought  privately  to  the  church,  and  deposited 
there,  after  the  perusal  of  the  sermon.  He  published  likewise,  a  Collection 
of  Sacred  Poems,  consisting  of  translations  and  paraphrases  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  which  do  equal  credit  to  his  piety  and  his  poetical  taste.  As  a 
proof,  however,  that  he  did  not  entirely  confine  his  studies  to  subjects  of  a 
grave  and  dignified  cast,  he  was  also  the  editor  of  a  Collection  of  Ancient 
Scottish  Poems,  from  the  "  Bannatyne-Manuscript,"  in  the  Advocates' 
Library  at  Edinburgh  ;  and  he  contributed  some  papers  to  the  two  periodical 
publications,  the  "  World,"  published  at  London,  and  the  "  Mirror,"  at 
Edinburgh,  which  contain  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  humour.  He  died, 
29th  November,  1792. 


212  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  The  magistrates  of  Edinburgh  have  shown  a  zeal  almost 
without  example,  of  supplying  all  the  vacant  professorships  with 
the  persons  held  to  be  the  best  qualified.  In  this,  they  have  re- 
nounced every  party  view,  every  private  connexion.  Should  Dr 
Beattie  obstinately  decline  their  solicitations,  it  is  more  than  an 
equal  chance  that  the  difficulty  which  they  find  in  perfecting  their 
noble  plan,  may  lead  them  insensibly  to  accept  of  the  most  powerful 
recommendations,  and  thus  suffer  things  to  go  on  in  the  easiest  way : 
thus  things  will  turn  into  a  corrupted  channel.  Should  a  man  of 
mean  abilities,  or  of  dubious  principles,  fill  the  chair  which  Dr 
Beattie  might  have  filled,  who  must  answer  for  the  good  which  such 
a  person  does  not,  or  for  the  ill  which  he  may  do  ? 

"  I  wish  that  Dr  Beattie  could  be  brought  to  see  this  in  the 
strong  light  in  which  I  see  it.  There  are  many  things  which 
might  be  said,  and  which  are  not  fit  for  a  letter ;  many  things 
which,  at  present,  cannot  be  spoken.  It  may  be  supposed  that  Dr 
Beattie  imagines  that  his  works  have  procured  him  enemies,  and 
that  those  enemies  will  be  more  formidable  in  Edinburgh  than  in 
Aberdeen.  But  surely  he  will  not  find  those  enemies  among  the 
members  of  the  university.  I  could  insure  him  against  that  for  a 
very  moderate  premium.  If  they  that  are  against  him  are  more 
than  they  that  are  for  him  ;  I  have  no  more  to  say. 

"  He  knows  that  he  and  I  differed  as  to  some  particulars,  and 
that  I  thought  something  might  have  been  taken  from  the  edge  of 
his  style,  yet  so  as  to  leave  it  the  power  of  cutting  deep  enough. 
But  that  is  a  matter  of  taste  and  opinion.  They,  who  have  felt  the, 
sharpness  of  his  weapon,  will  not  provoke  it. 

"  If  he  is  affected  with  obloquy,  I  wish  he  were  a  judge  for  six 
months,  and,  then  he  would  find  that  unless  a  man  can  have  pa- 
tience to  contemn  the  gainsayers,  he  will  have  little  comfort  in  the 
plain  path  of  duty." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  213 


LETTER  LXXVI. 


IX)RD  HAILES  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

New  Hailes,  16th  April,  1774. 

"  SINCE  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  I  have  a  letter 
from  London,  mentioning  Lord  Mansfield's  zeal  for  Dr  Beattie.  I 
do  not  consider  myself  at  liberty  to  mention  who  my  correspondent 
is  ;  he  is  a  man  not  much  given  to  applaud  indiscriminately,  and 
one  who  thinks  highly  of  Dr  Beattie. 

"  The  more  that  I  think  of  this  affair,  the  more  I  am  persuaded 
that  Dr  Beattie's  terrors  are  panic.  I  impute  them  to  bad  health 
and  a  vegetable  diet.  My  poor  old  friend  Dr  M'Kenzie  of 
Drumsheugh  imputed  the  errors  of  the  later  Platonists  to  that 
ascetic  diet. 

"  If  Dr  Beattie  would  consider,  that  in  his  lectures  he  is  to  un- 
fold a  system  of  truth,  and  that  he  may  confute  all  the  nonsense  and 
irrellgion  that  has  appeared  since  the  days  of  Cain  even  unto  our 
days,  without  ever  mentioning  the  name  of  any  theorist  or  sceptic, 
he  will  not  consider  the  intended  station  as  so  formidable. 

"  Should  he  dislike  his  office,  he  may  leave  it ;  he  will  always 
find  a  decent  retirement  into  some  sequestered  recess  of  literature. 

"  I  am  not  sure  that  it  is  a  very  Chi-istian  sentiment,  yet  I  must 
say,  that  a  rebuff  at  this  time  will  be  very  discouraging,  especially 
when  we  ourselves  have  the  ball  at  our  foot.  If  the  friends  of  re- 
ligion, and  they  who  consider  the  value  of  religious  education,  are 
to  have  no  aid  where  that  might  be  expected,  what  is  to  come  next? 
If  Dr  Beattie  shrinks,  will  not  every  man  of  ability  shrink  too  ?" 


To  these  communications  from  Lord  Hailes,  which  I  expected 
would  have  produced  some  effect  in  making  him  yield  to  the  solici- 
tation of  his  friends,  I  had  the  mortification,  however,  of  receiving 
the  following  copious  reply. 


214  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  LXXVII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  19th  April,  1774. 

"  I  HAVE  just  received  your  two  letters  of  the  16th  current;, 
inclosing  two  from  Lord  Hailes  to  you,  which,  according  to  your 
desire,  I  return  under  this  cover.  I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  you, 
or  his  Lordship,  for  your  zealous  good  wishes,  and  for  the  very  fa- 
vourable opinion  you  and  he  are  pleased  to  entertain  of  me.  As  I 
desire  nothing  more  earnestly,  than  to  secure  the  continuance  of 
that  favourable  opinion,  I  must  beg  leave  to  be  somewhat  particular 
in  answering  two  accusations,  which,  from  two  passages  of  his 
Lordship's  letter,  I  have  reason  to  fear  are  likely  to  be  brought 
against  me,  even  by  my  friends.  It  is  insinuated,  that  my  disincli- 
nation to  resign  my  present  employment,  may  be  the  effect  of  ob- 
stinacy, or  oi  fear. 

"  Now,  I  humbly  think,  that  when  a  man's  conduct,  and  the  rea- 
sons of  it,  are  approved  by  a  very  great  majority  of  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  both,  it  would  be  rather  hard  to  charge  him  with 
obstinacy,  for  adhering  to  such  conduct.  And  most  certain  it  is, 
that,  by  all  my  English  friends  to  whom  I  have  had  occasion  to 
explain  the  affair  in  question,  and  by  many  respectable  friends  in 
Scotland,  this  conduct  of  mine,  and  the  reasons  of  it,  have  been 
highly  approved.  Another  thing,  too,  on  this  head,  deserves  atten- 
tion. A  man  should  not  be  accused  of  obstinacy,  till  he  have  told 
all  his  reasons,  and  till  it  appear  that  they  are  all  unsatisfactory. 
I  have  never  told  all  my  reasons;  I  have  told  those  only  which  are 
of  a  less  private  nature:  other  reasons  I  could  specify  ;  but  they 
are  of  such  a  sort,  that  I  should  think  it  petulance  to  obtrude  them 
on  the  public. 

"  To  the  second  accusation,  I  know  not  whether  I  can  decently 
reply.  When  I  see  a  man  solicitous  to  prove  that  he  is  sober,  I 
generally  take  it  for  granted,  that  he  is  drunk ;  and  when  one  is  at 
pains  to  convince  me  that  he  is  brave,  I  am  apt  to  set  him  down  for 
a  coward.     Whether  I  deserve  to  be  considered  as  a  timorous  as- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  215 

serter  of  good  principles,  I  leave  the  world  to  judge,  from  what  I 
have  written,  and  from  what  I  have  done  and  said  on  occasions  in- 
numerable. Many  hundreds  in  Great  Britain,  and  some  too  else- 
where, think,  that  no  Scottish  writer,  in  my  time,  has  attacked  the 
enemies  of  truth  with  less  reserve,  and  confuted  them  more  zea- 
lously, than  1  have  done.  I  have  declared,  in  a  printed  book,  which 
bears  my  name,  that  I  detest  their  principles,  and  despise  their 
talents  i  and  that  very  book  is,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  a  proof  that 
I  have  no  reason  to  retract  the  declaration.  What  I  have  avowed,  I 
am  still  ready  to  avow,  in  the  face  of  any  man  upon  earth,  or  of  any 
number  of  men  ;  and  I  shaii  never  cease  to  avow,  in  plain  language, 
and  without  concealment  or  subterfuge,  so  long  as  the  Deity  is 
pleased  to  continue  with  me  the  use  of  my  faculties.  I  cannot  think 
that  my  friends  will  treat  me  so  hardly,  as  to  give  out,  that  I  fear 
every  thing  which  I  dislike.  I  dislike  the  croaking  of  frogs,  and  the 
barking  of  curs  ;  but  I  fear  neither.  I  dislike  the  conversation  of 
infideis  ;  but  I  know  not  in  what  sense  I  can  be  said  to  fear  it.  I 
should  dislike  very  much  to  live  in  a  society  with  crafty  persons, 
who  would  think  it  for  their  interest  to  give  me  as  much  trouble  as 
possible,  unless  I  had  reason  to  think,  that  they  had  conscience  and 
honour  sufficient  to  restrain  them  from  aspersing  the  innocent ; 
yet,  if  my  duty  were  to  call  me  thither,  I  should  not  be  in  the  least 
afraid  to  live  in  such  a  society;  for  I  know,  that,  while  an  honest 
man  does  his  duty,  the  world  seldom  fails  to  do  him  justice.  As  to 
obloquy^  I  have  had  a  share  of  it,  as  large  as  any  private  man  I  know; 
and  I  think  I  have  borne  it,  and  can  bear  it,  with  a  degree  of  forti- 
tude, of  which  I  should  not  need  to  be  ashamed,  even  if  my  station 
were  as  public,  and  as  important,  as  that  of  a  judge.  Every  honest 
man,  whether  his  station  be  public  or  private,  will  do  his  duty  with- 
out minding  obloquy,  which,  in  fact,  was  never  more  harmless  than 
at  present,  because  it  never  was  more  common.  Convince  me  that 
it  is  my  duty  to  remove  from  hence  to  Edinburgh,  and  you  shall 
see  me  set  out  immediately,  as  regardless  of  the  snarling  of  my 
enemies  there,  as  of  that  of  the  curs,  who  might  snap  at  my  heels 
by  the  way.  So  very  little  ground  is  there  for  suspecting  me  of  an 
inclination  to  shrink  from  my  principles,  that  one  chief  reason  which 
determines  my  present  choice  is,  that  I  may  have  the  more  leisure 
to  apply  myself  to  those  studies,  which  may  tend  to  the  further 
confutation  of  error,  and  illustration  of  truth :  so  that,  if  thev  think 


216  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIt. 

I  have  any  talents  in  this  way,  and  if  they  know  what  my  present 
resolutions  are,  my  adversaries  would  wish  me  rather  in  Edinburgh, 
where  I  should  have  but  little  leisure,  than  at  Aberdeen,  where  I 
have  a  great  deal.  On  this  account,  as  well  as  on  others,  I  am  morally 
certain,  that  I  shall  have  it  in  my  power  to  do  more  good  to  society, 
by  remaining  where  I  am,  than  by  moving  to  Edinburgh. 

"  That  I  am  entirely  useless  in  my  present  profession,  is  not 
the  opinion  of  those  in  this  country,  who  have  access  to  know  how 
I  employ  myself.  My  lectures  are  not  confined  to  my  own  class. 
I  do  what  no  otlier  professor  here  ever  did,  and  what  no  professor 
in  any  other  part  of  Great  Britain  can  do  ;  1  admit,  together  with 
my  own  students  in  moral  philosopiiy,  all  the  divinity  students  of 
two  universities,  who  are  willing  to  attend  me  ;  and  I  have  often  a 
very  crowded  auditory  ;  and  I  receive  fees  from  nobody,  but  from 
such  of  my  own  private  class  as  are  able  to  pay  them.  Nobody 
ever  asked  me  to  do  this,  and  nobody  thanks  me  for  it,  except  the 
young  men  themselves  ;  and  yet,  in  all  this  there  is  so  little  merit, 
it  being  as  easy  for  me  to  lecture  to  a  hundred  as  to  thirty,  that  I 
should  not  have  thought  it  worth  mentioning,  except  with  a  view 
to  obviate  an  objection,  that  seems  to  be  implied  in  some  things, 
that  have  been  thrown  out  at  this  time. 

"  So  much  for  my  duties  to  the  public,  to  which,  I  would  fain 
hope,  it  will  be  found,  thut  I  am  not  quite  insensible.  But,  accord- 
ing to  my  notions  of  morality,  there  are  also  duties  which  a  man 
owes  to  his  family,  and  to  himself:  nor  is  it,  in  my  opinion,  incum.- 
bent  on  any  man  to  overlook  the  latter,  merely  beeause  it  is  possi- 
ble that,  by  so  doing,  he  might  discharge  the  former  more  effectu- 
ally. I  do  not  think  it  the  duty  of  any  particular  Christian,  of  you, 
for  instance,  or  Mr  Arbuthnot,  or  myself,  to  relinquish  his  family, 
friends,  and  country,  and  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  ; 
and  yet,  it  is  not  absolutely  impossible,  but  that,  by  so  doing,  he 
might  perform  a  great  deal  of  good.  My  health  and  quiet  may  be 
of  little  consequence  to  the  public,  but  they  are  of  very  considerable 
consequence  to  me,  and  to  those  who  depend  upon  me  ;  and  I  am 
certain,  that  I  shall  have  a  much  better  chance  of  securing  both, 
by  staying  where  I  am,  than  by  removing  to  Edinburgh.  Dr 
Gregory  was  of  this  opinion  :  I  can  show  his  hand-writing  for  it ; 
and  this  is  the  opinion  of  many  others.  I  have  more  reasons  than 
the  world  knows  of,  to  wish  to  pass  the  latter  part  of  my  days  in 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  317 

quiet ;  and  the  more  quiet,  and  the  more  heahh  I  enjoy,  the  more 
I  sliall  have  it  in  my  power  to  exert  myseif  in  the  service  of  the 
public. 

"  To  what  Lord  Hailes  adds,  in  the  conclusion  of  his  letter, 
about  my  leaving  the  office  in  question,  if  I  found  it  disagreeable, 
in  the  hopes  of  finding  some  decent  retirement  elsewhere,  I  make 
no  reply  :  I  only  say,  that  1  wonder  at  it.  I  wish  there  were  more 
foundation  for  his  humorous  conjecture  about  my  food  :  if  I 
could  eat  vegetables,  I  should  think  myself  a  great  man  :  but  alas ! 
the  state  of  my  health  is  such,  that  I  dare  not  indulge  myself  in 
that  wholesome  diet. 

"  I  hope  his  Lordship  will  now  be  convinced,  that  I  am  neither 
whimsical  nor  timorous  in  this  affair.  The  reasons  1  have  speci- 
fied, have  been  admitted  as  valid  by  many  persons,  whose  judgment 
in  other  matters  he  would  allow  to  be  good,  if  I  were  to  name 
them ;  which  I  would  do,  without  scruple,  if  1  thought  it  neces- 
sary. 

"  I  shall  only  add,  what  you,  my  dear  friend,  know  to  be  a  truth, 
and  what  1  can  bring  the  fullest  evidence  to  prove,  that  my  present 
disinclination  to  an  Edinburgh  professorship  is  not  the  conse- 
quence of  any  late  favourable  change  in  my  circumstances.  The 
very  same  disinclination  1  shewed,  and  the  same  reasons  1  urged, 
more  than  two  years  ago,  when  I  had  no  prospect  of  such  a  favour- 
able change. 

"  To  conclude ;  every  principle  of  public  and  private  duty 
forbids  me  to  comply  with  tl.is  kind  solicitation  of  my  friends  ; 
and  I  will  add,  that  nothing  but  a  regard  to  duty  could  have  deter- 
mined me  to  resist  so  kind  a  solicitation.  I  am  certain,  tlie  city 
of  Edinburgh  can  find  no  difficulty  in  procuring  an  abler  professor 
than  I  am.  I  heartily  wish  it  may  ever  flourish  in  learning,  and 
in  every  useful  and  honourable  art ;  and  I  shall  ever  retain  a  most 
grateful  sense  of  the  honour  which  so  many  of  its  inhabitants  have 
done  me,  on  this  occasion. 

"  1  ask  pardon  for  not  answering  your  letter  sooner.  My 
health  is  just  now  in  such  a  state,  (the  confinement  occasioned  by 
my  broken  arm  having  brought  back  many  of  my  old  complaints,) 
that  I  am  not  able  to  write  more  than  a  few  sentences  at  a  time, 
without  suffering  for  it. 

2  K 


318  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  I  have  not  said  a  word  on  the  subject  of  interest.  It  is  evident 
to  me,  and  I  think  I  could  prove  to  your  satisfaction,  that  the 
change,  now  proposed,  would  be  detrimental  in  that  respect.  But 
this  consideration  should  not  deter  me  from  making  the  change, 
if  my  duty  required  me  to  make  it.  And  yet,  even  if  I  were  to 
pay  some  attention  to  interest  in  an  affair  of  this  kind,  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  world  in  general  would  blame  me,  considering  that 
I  have  others  to  provide  for,  besides  myself.  It  may  be  said,  indeed, 
that,  having  already  gotten  as  much  as  might  support  me  inde- 
pendently on  my  office,  which  is  more  than  I  deserve,  I  have  no 
right  to  extend  my  views  to  interest  any  further.  I  admit  the  fact ; 
but  I  deny  the  inference,  in  which  I  will  not  believe  any  man  to 
be  serious,  till  he  show  me,  by  his  own  conduct,  that  he  thinks  it 
valid. 

"  The  reasons  I  have  here  specified,  I  wish  to  be  as  generally 
known,  in  and  about  Edinburgh,  as  you  may  think  necessary,  for 
the  vindication  of  my  character." 


This  letter  was  inclosed  in  the  following 


LETTER  LXXVIIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  23d  April,  1774. 

"  THE  long  letter,  inclosed,  you  are  to  consider  as  an  answer, 
not  to  yours,  but  to  those  of  Lord  Hailes  to  you.  I  know,  not  only 
the  goodness  but  the  generosity  and  gentleness  of  your  heart;  and, 
I  am  sure,  you  would  never  wish  me  to  do  a  thing  disagreeable  to 
me,  if  I  could,  with  a  clear  conscience,  avoid  it.  Our  learned  and 
worthy  friend  seems  to  think,  that  my  interest  and  gratification 
ought  to  be  entirely  out  of  the  question  ;  in  this,  I  know,  you  will 
differ  from  him,  as  well  as  in  some  insinuations  touching  my  cha- 
racter, which,  I  confess,  pique  me  a  little.     But  this  eiUre  nous. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  21.9 

I  have  the  greatest  regard  for  him,  notwithstanding,  on  account  o£ 
his  learning  and  worth  ;  and  I  am  pretty  certain  he  has  a  regard 
for  me  ;  but  I  thought  it  was  best  to  speak  plain,  and  put  an  end  to 
the  affair  at  once.  Be  assured,  that  I  did  not  form  my  present  re- 
solution without  very  good  reason." 


It  was  obviously  Dr  Beattie's  intention,  that  I  should  transmit 
this  letter  to  Lord  Hailes,  as  containing  a  full  statement  of  our 
friend's  determination,  and  of  his  reasons  for  it.  But  I  confess,  the 
letter  did  not  altogether  please  me.  I  thought  it  written  in  a  tone 
somewhat  too  peremptory,  in  reply  to  so  well-meant  a  communi- 
cation. On  consulting  with  two  of  our  most  intimate  friends,  who 
entirely  agreed  with  me  in  my  opinion  of  the  letter,  I  resolved  not 
to  send  it  to  Lord  Hailes,  but  rather  to  copy  out  some  paragraphs 
from  it,  which  I  transmitted  to  him.  At  the  same  time,  I  thought 
it  right  to  send  to  Dr  Beattie  an  exact  copy  of  what  I  had  thus 
written.  The  following  letters,  which  I  received  in  reply,  closed 
the  correspondence  on  the  subject. 


LETTER  LXXIX. 


LORD  HAILES  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

New  Hailes,  29th  April,  1774. 

"  I  AM  sorry  to  see  that  Dr  Beattie  is  so  resolved  :  I  do  no| 
see  that  more  can  be  said  ;  he  seems  to  be  dissatisfied  with  some- 
thing that  you  and  I  have  said,  I  am  sure  without  reason.  IVho 
the  people  are,  whose  judgment  I  would  think  good  in  other  mat- 
ters, and  who  have  confirmed  him  in  his  resolutions,  I  know  not, 
nor  can  I  venture  to  guess:  I  possibly  suspect  one,  of  whose  sound 
head,  and  distinguished  abilities,  I  have  a  just  sense  ;  but  he  and  I 
do  not  always  think  in  the  same  way.  I  could  mention  men,  well 
known  in  the  literary  world,  dead  and  alive,  who  thought  and  think 
very  differently  from  some  of  the  Doctor's  friends,  but  I  have  my 


220  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

reasons  for  being  silent  as  to  names.  Since  this  affair  has  taken  so 
unfortunate  a  turn,  you  and  I  have  done  what  we  thought  right, 
Dr  Beattie  has  done  what  he  thought  right,  and  there  is  no  more 
to  be  said  ;  I  hope  that  all  will  be  for  the  best. 

"  When  you  write  to  Dr  Beattie,  please  assure  him,  in  the 
warmest  manner,  of  my  good  wishes  and  regard." 


LETTER  LXXX. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  8th  May,  1774. 

"  I  HAVE  this  moment  received  your  packet,  which  I  shall 
answer,  at  some  length,  hereafter.  In  the  meantime,  I  take  the 
opportunity  to  tell  you,  by  the  return  of  the  post,  that  your  con- 
duct, in  the  whole  of  this  business,  is  prudent,  benevolent,  and 
friendly.  I  beg,  therefore,  you  may  make  your  mind  perfectly 
easy  on  that  head.     Show  this  letter  to  Mr  Arbuthnot."  * 


As  I  wished  to  show  at  once  the  whole  of  the  correspondence 
respecting  the  Edinburgh  professorship,  in  order  that  what  passed 
on  that  occasion  may  be  the  more  distinctly  known,  I  delayed  to 
insert  the  following  letters,  which  were  written  in  the  interval,  be- 
tween the  two  periods  of  that  correspondence. 

*  In  this  letter,  which  was  ostensible,  I  found  inclosed  a  slip  of  paper,  on 
which  he  had  written  to  me  tlie  following'  most  affectionate  note : 

"  I  cannot  help  telling  you  on  this  scrap,  that  I  could  have  wished  yoU* 
had  been  entirely  determined  by  your  own  judgment,  in  the  affair  of  the 
letter.  Not  that  there  was  any  harm  in  consulting  tliose  two  friends,  whom 
nobody  on  earth  can  honour  more  than  I  do  ;  but  because  I  wish  you  to  be- 
lieve, that  your  opinion  alone  is  at  any  time  sufficient  authority  with  me,  for 
the  propriety  of  any  measure,  you  may  be  pleased  to  recommend.  There  Is 
not  a  thought  of  my  heart,  which  I  wish  to  conceal  from  you ;  and  I  liave 
been  long  accustomed  to  lay  my  mind  open  to  you,  witli  less  reserve,  than 
to  any  body  else;  indeed,  without  any  sort  of  reserve  at  all.  It  may,  there- 
fore, sometimes  happen,  that  I  shall  write  to  you,  what  I  would  not  wish  any 
body  else  to  read." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  221 


LETTER  LXXXL 


DB  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  18th  December,  1773. 

"  MY  studies  proceed  so  slowly,  that  I  can  hardly  be  said  to 
study  at  all ;  which,  after  what  I  have  told  you,  will  not  appear 
surprising.  I  have,  however,  added  largely  to  my  discourse  on 
classical  learning,  and  have  been  looking  out  for  materials,  towards 
the  finishing  of  my  other  little  essays.  If  the  subscription-affair 
succeed,  I  hope  I  shall  have  every  thing  in  readiness  in  due  time. 
— I  understand,  by  a  letter  from  Mr  Gregory,  to  one  of  his  friends 
here,  that  he  has  been  obliged  to  lay  aside  the  scheme  of  publish- 
ing his  father's  works  in  one  volume  ;  two  of  the  treatises  being 
(it  seems)  the  property  of  Dodsley  the  bookseller  :  this  has  made 
me  postpone,  to  a  time  of  more  leisure,  what  I  intended  to  write 
on  the  subject  of  the  Doctor's  character.  I  knew,  that  Mr  Gre- 
gory *  would  please  you  :  he  is,  indeed,  an  excellent  young  man  ; 
I  know  not  whether  I  ever  have  met  with  one  of  his  years,  whose 
heart  was  so  good,  or  whose  understanding  was  so  thoroughly  im- 
proved. 

"  I  had  the  honour  of  a  letter,  lately,  from  the  Dutchess  of  Port- 
land, which  I  will  answer  soon.  Mrs  Delany's  misfortune  gave 
great  concern  to  Mrs  Beattie  and  me;  but  as  you  mention  nothing 
of  it,  we  are  satisfied  that  the  danger  is  now  over. 

*  Dr  James  Gregory,  (eldest  son  of  the  late  Dr  John  Gregory)  a  physi- 
cian of  the  first  eminence,  at  present,  in  Edinburgh,  and  who  fills  the  chair 
of  Professor  of  the  Practice  of  Physic,  in  that  university,  with  such  distin- 
guished abiUty.  From  a  youth,  he  enjoyed  tlie  friendship  of  Dr  Beattie,  as 
it  were  by  hereditary  right :  and  at  all  times  endeavoured,  by  his  medical 
skill,  to  contribute  to  the  restoration  of  the  health  of  one  who  had  been  so 
dear  to  his  father,  and  whom  he  himself  so  highly  esteemed  and  respected. 
The  elegant  and  classical  inscription,  for  Dr  Beattie's  monument  at  Aber- 
deen, which  will  be  found  hereafter,  is  of  Dr  Gregory's  composition.  I 
have  already  mentioned  f  the  intimate  friendship  with  which  the  late  Dr 
Gregory  honoured  me,  and  I  am  proud  to  boast  of  its  continuance  with 
his  son. 

t  P.  24. 


222  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  hear,  that  your  nephew  finds  Edin- 
burgh so  much  to  his  mind.  Mr  Arbuthnot  will  do  every  thing  in 
his  power  to  make  it  agreeable  to  him.  To  the  soundest  princi- 
ples, and  to  the  best  heart,  to  a  very  extensive  knowledge  both  of 
men  and  books,  and  to  great  delicacy  and  correctness  of  taste,  Mr 
Arbuthnot  joins  a  vein  of  pleasantry  and  good  humour,  peculiar  to 
himself,  which  renders  his  conversation  equally  agreeable  and  in- 
structive. His  character,  in  many  particulars,  resembles  that  of 
his  namesake  and  near  relation,  the  famous  Dr  John  Arbuthnot ; 
but  my  friend  has  none  of  those  singularities  of  manner,  which 
sometimes  rendered  his  great  kinsman  somewhat  ridiculous.  I  am 
convinced  that  your  nephew  and  he  will  be  mutually  agreeable  to 
each  other ;  and  as  Mr  Arbuthnot  is  well  acquainted  with  every 
body  in  Edinburgh,  he  is  one  of  the  properest  persons  there,  to 
r-ive  advice  to  the  other,  in  regard  to  his  company.  I  shall  write 
to  Mr  Arbuthnot,  in  a  few  days,  and  tell  him  what  you  say  of  him, 
wiiich,  I  know,  will  make  him  very  happy.* 

"I  knov/  not,  whether,  in  a  form.er  letter,  I  did  not  give  you 
some  account  of  an  offer  I  lately  had,  from  some  of  the  town- 
council  of  Edinburgh,  of  their  interest  of  bringing  me  into  that 
university,  in  which,  at  present,  there  is  a  professorship  vacant. 
I  thanked  them  in  the  best  manner  I  could  ;  but,  for  several  rea- 
sons,' some  of  which  I  specified  to  them,  and  with  all  of  which  you 
are  well  acquainted,  I  begged  leave  to  decline  the  offer. 

"  Yesterday's  post  brought  me  a  letter  from  the  Archbishop  of 
York  :  It  is  more  than  friendly,  it  is  an  affectionate  letter.  His 
Grace  had  written  to  me  soon  after  my  return  to  Scotland,  to  con- 
gratulate me  on  my  late  success  ;  and,  by  a  very  delicate  hint,  he 
^^ave  me  an  opportunity  of  explaining,  whether  I  would  now  con- 
fine my  future  views  to  this  country,  or  make  any  further  efforts 
to  rise  higher  in  the  world.  My  answer  to  that  part  of  his  Grace's 
letter  was  to  the  following  purpose  : 

"  That  my  late  success  was  greater  than  I  had  any  reason 
either  to  expect  or  wish  for ;  that  I  considered  myself  as  rewarded 
beyond  my  descrvings  ;  that  the  provision,  now  made  for  me,  was 
sufficient  to  procure  for  me,  at  Aberdeen,  every  convenience  of  life 
which  I  had  any  right  to  aspire  after;  that  1  had  neither  spirits  nor 

»  See  p.  20. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.?  22^ 

bodily  health  to  qualify  me  for  a  life  of  bustle  and  anxiety ;  and 
that  I  might  perhaps  be  as  useful  in  my  present  station,  as  in  any 
other  ;  that,  therefore,  to  give  my  friends  any  further  trouble  in 
seconding  my  views,  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  to  presume  too  far 
upon  their  generosity,  and  my  own  merit.  The  archbishop  ap- 
proves highly  of  these  sentiments.  "  Your  resolution  (says  he) 
"  to  employ  your  time  and  endeavours  to  promote  the  cause  of 
"  truth,  and  your  content  to  remain  in  Scotland  with  your  present 
"  provisions,  is  worthy  of  you  j  *  *  *  and  though  your  entry 
"  into  our  church  would  have  been  a  happy  acquisition  to  it,  yet  I 
"  cannot  but  applaud  your  determination." 


At  the  time  when  Dr  Beattie  went  to  London,  in  the  year  1773, 
and  when  it  was  very  uncertain  whether  he  might  ever  receive  any 
substantial  mark  of  his  Majesty's  royal  approbation,  his  friends  iu 
London,  seeing  how  much  he  and  his  family  stood  in  need  of  some 
farther  emolument,  than  what  merely  arose  from  his  professor- 
ship, projected  a  scheme  of  publishing  there,  by  subscription,  an 
edition  of  his  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  by  which,  it  was  hoped,  a  con- 
siderable sum  might  be  raised.  It  was  by  no  means  intended  to 
advertise  it  publicly  ;  but  merely  to  conduct  it  privately,  by  means 
of  a  few  of  his  particular  friends.  Lady  Mayne,  Mrs  Montagu,  Dr 
Porteus,  and  a  few  others,  whose  extensive  circle  of  acquaintance 
might  give  them  an  opportunity  of  procuring  a  large  number  of 
subscriptions.  A  mode  this,  which,  it  was  thought,  could  neither 
be  construed  into  indelicacy  towards  him  nor  the  public.  The  book 
did  not  make  its  appearance  until  the  year  1776,  as  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  mention  hereafter.  But  as  the  matter  of  the  subscrip- 
tion became  pretty  generally  known,  and  had  been  differently 
thought  of  by  some  of  his  friends,  the  inclosed  letter  to  Lady 
Mayne  *  sets  the  matter  in  its  proper  point  of  view. 

*  The  Honourable  Frances  Allen,  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Joshua 
Lord  Viscount  Allen,  Lady  of  Sir  William  Mayne,  Baronet,  afterwards 
created  Lord  Newhaven,  from  both  of  whom  Dr  Beattie  experienced  the 
strongest  marks  of  friendly  and  polite  attention. 


234  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  LXXXIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  LADY  MAVNE. 


Aberdeen,  2d  January,  1774. 

"  OF  my  worthy  and  generous  friend,  Dr  Majendie,  I  know 
not  what  to  say.  I  must  leave  it  to  your  ladyship  to  tell  him,  for 
no  words  of  mine  have  energy  enough,  with  what  gratitude,  affec- 
tion and  esteem,  I  do,  and  ever  shall,  remember  him.  The  senti- 
ments which  his  royal  mistress*  has  been  pleased  to  express,  in  re- 
gard to  my  affairs,  do  me  the  greatest  honour ;  and  I  should  be 
unworthy  of  them,  if  they  did  not  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure. 
It  is  peculiarly  fortunate,  that  her  M y  should  honour  the  sub- 
scription with  her  approbation.  This  may  exclude,  from  a  certain 
quarter,  those  misrepresentations  of  this  affair,  which,  I  have  rea- 
son to  think,  are  already  circulating,  very  much  to  the  prejudice  of 
my  character.  I  was,  indeed,  somewhat  apprehensive,  from  the 
beginning,  that  my  enemies  might  tax  me  with  avarice  and  impu- 
dence. But  your  ladyship,  and  Mrs  Montagu,  concerted  the- 
scheme  in  such  a  manner,  that,  if  it  is  rightly  understood,  it  must  re- 
dound, even  in  the  judgment  of  my  enemies  themselves,  still  more  to 
my  honour,  than  it  can  be  to  my  interest.  And  of  this  1  lately  endea- 
voured to  satisfy  a  friend  of  mine  in  England,  a  gentleman  eminent 
in  the  literary  world,  who,  on  hearing  some  imperfect  account  of  a 
subscription,  wrote  me  a  letter,  urging  me  in  the  most  earnest 
manner,  as  I  valued  my  character,  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  I  gave  hinti, 
in  return,  as  plain  an  account,  as,  without  naming  names,  could  be 
given,  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  affair.  1  told  him,  "  That 
"  it  was  a  thing  of  a  private  nature  entirely  ;  projected,  not  by  me, 
"  but  by  some  of  my  friends,  who  had  condescended  to  charge 
"  themselves  with  the  whole  trouble  of  it ;  that  it  was  never  meant 
"  to  be  made  public,  nor  put  into  the  hands  of  booksellers,  nor 
"  carried  on  by  solicitation,  but  was  to  be  considered  as  a  -volwitary 
"  mark  of  the  approbation  of  some  persons  of  rank  and  fortune. 

See  p.  179. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  225 

"  who  wished  it  to  be  known,  that  they  patronized  me  on  account 
"  of  what  I  had  written  in  defence  of  truth  ;  and  that  I  was  so  far 
"  from  desiring  to  put  the  patience  or  generosity  of  my  friends  to 
"  any  further  trial,  that  I  had  repeatedly  protested,  and  did  still 
"  protest,  that  I  was  fully  satisfied  with  the  provision,  which,  by 
"  his  Majesty's  bounty,  I  now  enjoy,  which  was  equal  to  my  wishes, 
"  and  far  superior,  in  my  opinion,  to  my  deservings."  I  told  him 
further,  "  That  considering  the  nature  of  this  subscription,  and  the 
"  high  character  of  the  persons  who  had  proposed  it,  I  could  not 
"  have  refused  my  consent  without  giving  myself  airs,  which  would 
"  have  very  ill  become  me  :"  and  I  added,  "  That  while  the  subscrip- 
"  tion,  by  remaining  in  suspense,  was  liable  to  be  misunderstood, 
"  I  trusted  to  my  friends  for  the  vindication  of  my  conduct ;  but 
"  that,  if  ever  the  intended  volume  came  to  be  published,  I  should 
"  take  care  to  do  justice,  in  a  preface,  both  to  them,  and  to  myself, 
"  by  stating  the  matter  fairly  to  the  public." — This  information  willj 
I  hope,  satisfy  the  gentleman,  that  the  subscription  is  not,  as  he 
was  made  to  believe,  disgraceful  to  my  character^  (these  are  his 
words,)  but,  on  the  contrary,  highly  creditable  to  it,  and  honour- 
able. However,  that  it  may  never  be  in  the  power,  even  of  malice 
itself  to  lay  any  thing  to  my  charge  on  this  score,  I  would  humbly 
propose,  that  no  entreaty  should  be  used  to  draw  in  subscribers, 
and  that  they,  who  make  objections,  should  never  be  addressed  a 
second  time  on  the  subject." 


LETTER  LXXXIIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESQ. 

Aberdeen,  8th  January,  1774, 

"  SINCE  I  left  London,  Mr  Hume's  friends  have  been  con- 
triving a  new  method  to  blacken  my  character.  I  have  been  writ* 
ten  to  upon  the  subject,  and  desired  to  vindicate  myself;  as  the  ut- 
most industry  is  used,  even  by  some  people  of  name,  to  circulate 
the  malicious  report. 

"  The  charge  against  me,  as  stated  in  my  correspondent's  let- 
ter, is  word  for  word  as  follows  :  I  am  accused  of  rancour,  and  in- 
gratitude to  Mr  Hume  ;  for,  say  they,  "  Mr  Hume  was  very  instru- 

2f 


226  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  mental  in  procuring  for  me  the  professorship  I  now  hold  at  Aber- 
"  deen,  and  kept  up  a  fi-iendly  correspondence  with  me  for  some  time ; 
"  till  at  length  I  sent  him  a  poem  of  mine  (which  was  never  print- 
"  ed)  :  but  Mr  Hume  not  liking  it,  and  being  frank  in  his  nature, 
"  sent  me  word,  it  was  as  insipid  as  milk  and  water  ;  upon  which, 
"  bent  on  revenge,  I  immediately  set  about  my  "  Essay  on  Truth," 
"  which  is  full  of  virulence  and  misquotation." 

"  You  may  believe,  that  an  accusation  of  this  sort,  in  which,  you 
know,  I  can  prove,  there  is  not  one  single  word  of  truth,  cannot  give 
me  much  pain.  But  I  should  be  glad,  that  Mr  Hume,  for  his  own 
sake,  would  disavow  it ;  and  indeed  I  cannot  suppose,  that  he  is  so 
destitute  of  candour,  as  to  give  countenance  to  a  report,  which  he 
himself  certainly  knows  to  be  altogether  false." 


LETTER  LXXXIV. 

SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

London,  22d  February,  1774. 

"  I  SIT  down  to  relieve  my  mind  from  great  anxiety  and  un- 
easiness, and  I  am  very  serious  when  I  say,  that  this  proceeds  from 
not  answering  your  letter  sooner.  This  seems  very  strange,  you 
•will  say,  since  the  cause  may  be  so  easily  removed  ;  but  the  truth 
of  the  matter  is,  I  waited  to  be  able  to  inform  you  that  your  picture 
was  finished,  which,  however,  I  cannot  now  do.  I  must  confess  to 
you,  that  when  I  sat  doAvn,  I  did  intend  to  tell  a  sort  of  a  white  lie, 
that  it  was  finished  :  but  on  recollecting  that  I  was  writing  to  the  au- 
thor of  truth,  about  a  picture  of  truth,  I  felt  that  I  ought  to  say  no- 
thing but  truth.  The  truth  then  is,  that  the  picture  probably  will  be 
finished,  before  you  receive  this  letter ;  for  there  is  not  above 
a  day's  work  remaining  to  be  done.  Mr  Hume  has  heard  from 
somebody,  that  he  is  introduced  in  the  picture,  not  much  to  his 
credit;  thei'e  is  only  a  figure  covering  his  face  Avith  his  hands, 
which  they  may  call  Hume,  or  any  body  else ;  it  is  true  it  has  a 
tolerable  broad  back.  As  for  Voltaire,  I  intended  he  should  be  one 
of  the  group. 

"  I  intended  to  write  more,  but  I  hear  the  postman's  bell.     Dr 
Johnson,  who  is  with  me  now,  desires  his  compliments." 


I.IFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  227 


LETTER  LXXXV. 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 


^  Aberdeen,  13th  March,  1774. 

'•  THE  second  book  of  the  "  Minstrel,"  (which  Mr  Fred.  Mon- 
tagu  permits  me  to  send  under  his  cover)  will  be  delivered  to  you, 
along  with  this  ;  and  I  must  give  you  the  trouble  to  keep  it  till  Mr 
Dilly  calls  for  it.  You  were  very  indulgent  to  that  part  of  it  which 
you  read  last  summer,  in  which  I  have  made  no  very  material 
alterations.  I  am  impatient  to  know  your  opinion  of  the  other  part, 
and  particularly  of  the  conclusion,  which  I  do  not  like  the  better 
for  its  being  on  a  new  plan,  but  to  which  I  cannot  help  being  par- 
tial, for  the  sake  of  the  subject.  You  will  see  that  the  blank  is  to 
be  filled  up  with  the  name  of  Gi'egory  ;  a  name  which  I  forbear  to 
write  at  length,  till  I  see  whether  the  public  opinion  will  be  so  fa- 
vourable, as  to  justify  my  taking  that  liberty  with  so  dear  and  so 
respectable  a  friend.  The  lines  relating  to  him  were  written  (as  I 
think  I  told  you  before)  immediately  after  I  received  the  melan- 
choly news  of  his  death ;  when  my  mind  was  oppressed  with  a 
weight  of  sorrow,  which  I  did  not,  and  which  I  needed  not,  attempt 
to  exaggerate  in  the  description.  His  friendship  was  for  many 
years  a  never-failing  source  of  consolation  to  me,  in  all  my  dis- 
tresses ;  and  he  was  taken  from  me  at  a  time  when  my  health  was 
very  bad,  and  my  spirits  in  a  most  dejected  condition.  I  had  a  let- 
ter from  Mr  Gregory,  a  few  days  ago,  inclosing  a  copy  of  "  The 
"  Father's  Legacy."  I  read  it  several  years  ago,  in  manuscript,  and 
I  then  told  the  Doctor,  that  I  looked  upon  it  as  the  most  elegant  of 
all  his  compositions. 

"  You  are  right  in  conjecture,  in  regard  to  Dr  ■     .     He 

had,  it  seems,  heard  some  account  of  a  subscription,  and  wrote  of 

it  to  Mr  of ,  whose  letter  to  me  was  in  these 

words :  "  I  take  the  liberty  to  trouble  you  with  this  line,  merely  to 

"  mention  a  thing  which  my  friend,  Dr ,  out  of  pure  good 

"  will  to  you,  advises  me  to  mention,     lie  writes  me  word,  that  he 


228  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  hears,  on  good  p.uthority,  a  subscription  has  been  set  on  foot,  and 
"  is  soliciting,  for  your  "  Minstrel,"  (as  well  the  new,  as  the  old 
"  part.)  This  way  of  publishing  it,  he  thinks  (and  I  heartily  con- 
*■'  cur  with  him)  will  be  thought  unworthy  of  your  character,  and 
"  will  certainly  disgust  your  best  friends.  I  take  it  for  granted,  if 
"  the  story  is  true,  you  have  acquiesced  in  the  thing,  at  the  in- 
"  stance  of  some  friend,  who  did  not  feel  that  this  method  of  pub- 
"  lishing  has  so  mean  an  appearance,  as  it  really  at  present  has.  I 
"  would,  therefore,  advise  you,  by  all  means  to  stop  the  progress  of 
"  the  affair,  as  soon  as  possible ;  for  I  really  think,  it  will  be  highly 
"  disgraceful  to  a  person  of  your  confest  abilities,  if  it  proceeds, 

"  &c."     I  I'eturned  Mr .  an  answer  in  course,  and  told  him, 

that  Dr  — — —  had  been  misinformed  in  regard  to  the  "  Minstrel," 
but  that  there  actually  was  on  foot  a  subscription  of  another  sort, 
of  which  I  gave  him  that  account,  which  I  afterwards  sent  to  Lady 
Mayne,  in  that  letter  which  you  read.  This  happened  about  three 
months  ago  ;  and  I  have  not  heard  from  Mr  ■    ■  since  ;   from 

which  I  know  not  whether  to  draw  a  favourable,  or  an  unfavourable 
inference. 

"  Pray,  madam,  be  so  good  as  to  favour  me  with  sorrue  account 
of  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  Dr  Law,  if  he  happens  to  be  of  your  ac- 
quaintance. His  Lordship  (in  a  book  lately  published)  has  been 
pleased  to  attack  me  in  a  strange  manner,*  though  in  few  words, 
and  very  superciliously  seems  to  condemn  my  whole  book  ;  "  be- 
"  cause  I  believe  in  the  identity  of  the  human  soul,  and  that  there 
"  are  innate  powers,  and  implanted  instincts,  in  our  nature."  He 
hints,  too,  at  my  being  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  imputes  my  unna- 
tural way  of  reasoning,  (for  so  he  characterises  it)  to  my  ignorance 
of  what  has  been  written  on  the  other  side  of  the  question,  by  some 
late  authors.  It  would  be  a  very  easy  matter  for  me  to  return  such 
an  ansAver  to  his  Lordship,  as  would  satisfy  the  world,  that  he  has 
been  rather  hasty  in  signing  my  condemnation  ;  but  perhaps  it  will 
be  better  to  take  no  notice  of  it :  I  shall  be  determined  by  your  ad- 
vice. His  doctrine  is,  that  the  human  soul  forfeited  its  immortality 
by  the  fall,  but  regained  it  in  consequence  of  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  it  cannot  exist  without  the  body;  and  must,  there* 


*  Considerations  on  the  Theory  of  Religion,  by  Edmund,  Lord  Bishop 
of  Carlisle,  p.  431. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  229 

fore,  in  the  interval  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  remain  in 
a  state  of  non-existence.  The  theory  is  not  a  new  one- ;  but  his 
Lordship  seems  to  be  one  of  the  most  sanguine  of  its  adherents. 
Some  of  the  objections,  drawn  from  the  scripture,  he  gets  the  better 
of  by  a  mode  of  criticism,  which,  I  humbly  think,  would  not  be  ad- 
mitted in  a  commentary  upon  any  other  book. 

"  I  must  now  beg  leave  to  put  you  in  mind,  that  I  have  a  claim 
on  you,  for  an  essay  to  my  quarto  volume  ;  for  I  wish  to  have  in 
it  something  new,  that  is  really  worth  the  money  to  be  paid  for  it. 
I  ground  my  claim  upon  a  promise,  which,  I  think,  you  were 
pleased  to  make  me  at  Sandleford.  Such  a  contribution  will  give  you 
no  trouble  ;  and  to  me,  considering  how  poorly  provided  I  am  for 
furnishing  out  a  whole  quarto,  it  will  be  an  act  of  the  greatest 
charity.  The  hope  of  it  will  be  a  spur  to  my  industry ;  for,  though 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  provide  for  it  suitable  accommodation,  I 
shall,  however,  bestir  myself  in  decking  and  garnishing  the  rest  of 
the  volume  for  its  reception.  Since  I  have  been  in  this  state  of 
confinement,  I  have  amused  myself  in  collecting  materials  for 
finishing  an  "  Essay  on  Laughter,"  which  I  sketched  out  about  ten 
years  ago.  I  intend  that  it  shall  be  one  of  my  additional  essays  : 
it  is  a  grave  philosophical  enquiry  into  the  nature  of  those  objects 
that  provoke  laughter,  with  critical  remarks  on  the  different  sorts 
of  ludicrous  composition,  and  an  attempt  to  account  for  the  supe- 
riority of  the  moderns  over  the  ancients,  in  the  articles  of  wit  and 
humour.  I  have  written  fifty  pages,  and  shall  have  nearly  as  many 
more  to  write.  When  I  have  finished  the  first  draught,  I  will  have 
it  transcribed,  and  sent  to  you. 


LETTER  LXXXVL 


LADY  MAYNE  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

St.  James's  Square,  London,  April  18th,  17T4. 

"  I  BELIEVE  it  is  unnecessary  to  say,  how  much  pleasure 
I  have  received,  in  reading  over  and  over  the  second  part  of  your 
delightful  poem,  which,  I  find,  meets  with  the  universal  approba- 
tion it  deserves  j  and  all  those,  to  whom  you  was  so  obliging  as  to 


2S0  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

send  copies,  through  me,  join  with  Sir  William  and  me,  in  a  great 
many  thanks,  for  so  agreeable  a  present. 

"  Mr  John  Pitt,  of  Arlington-street,  has  desired  me  to  make  a 
proposal  to  you,  which,  whether  it  be  agreeable  to  you  or  not,  will 
be,  I  am  sure,  considered  by  you  as  a  real  proof  of  his  friendship 
and  esteem.  It  is,  that  in  case  you  should  have  resolved  to  follow 
the  advice  of  some  of  your  friends,  with  regard  to  taking  orders  in 
our  church  ;  he  has  a  living  in  his  neighbourhood  in  Dorsetshire, 
likely  to  be  very  soon  vacant,  which  he  will  not  dispose  of  till  he 
knows  your  mind.  I  believe  Sir  William  and  I  know  it  pretty  well, 
but  as  it  did  not  become  me  to  answer  for  you,  I  have  only  under- 
taken to  obtain  your  own,  which  he  begs  may  be  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, because  he  has  a  number  of  applications  for  it,  though  the 
yearly  value  is  only  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  You  will,  I  dare 
say,  judge  it  proper  to  write  to  him  yourself  upon  the  occasion. 

"  He  is  a  man  of  most  uncommon  goodness  of  heart ;  he  and 
his  charming  Avife  are  well-deserving  of  each  other.  They  both, 
in  the  beginning  of  this  Avinter,  proposed  a  plan,  for  a  society  of 
well-disposed  persons,  to  raise  a  fund  by  voluntary  subscription, 
for  the  relief  of  distressed  and  deserving  objects.  The  society  soon 
became  very  numerous,  as  well  as  rich,  and  consists  of  several  of 
the  highest  rank,  and  most  eminent  virtue,  besides  others  who  wish 
to  imitate  such  good  examples. 

"  Some  very  honest  judicious  people  are  kept  in  pay,  to  enquire 
and  examine  strictly  into  the  true  state  of  all  such  objects  as  send 
in  petitions,  and  a  committee  of  thirty  meet  every  Saturday  morn- 
ing, to  consider  the  reports  of  these  enquirers,  and  to  oi'der  suitable 
relief ;  besides  which,  the  whole  body  of  subscribers,  to  the  amount 
of  five  guineas  and  upwards,  have  a  general  meeting  every 
Wednesday  evening,  to  form  general  rules  and  regulations,  and 
consult  upon  any  extraordinary  cases  that  may  offer.  Besides  this 
committee,  there  is  another  chosen,  consisting  of  six  ladies,  and  a 
seventh  called  the  treasurer,  whose  department  it  is  to  employ 
poor  Avomen  in  Avork,  who  are  industrious,  but  depriA'ed  of  employ- 
ment. I  dare  say  it  Avill  immediately  strike  you,  that  such  an  un- 
limited plan  must  soon  become  impracticable,  in  such  a  toAvn  a;? 
this  is,  from  the  infinity  of  business  that  Avould  multiply  daily  : 
and  so  it  »has  proved.  We  therefore,  about  a  month  ago,  found 
ourselves  obliged  to  confine  ourselves  to  the  residents  in    five 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  231 

parishes;  St  James's,  St  George's,  St  Ann's,  St  Martin's,  and 
Marybone.  This  gave  a  little  relief  for  some  time,  but  now,  as 
might  well  be  expected,  the  poor  are  all  establishing  themselves 
within  these  limits,  so  that,  I  greatly  fear,  this  most  excellent 
scheme  cannot  hold  out  long,  at  least  upon  its  present  footing. 
However,  the  zeal  that  the  greatest  number  of  the  subscribers 
manifest,  and  the  indefatigable  pains,  as  well  as  time,  that  they 
employ  this  way,  in  spite  of  all  the  allurements  of  pleasure  and 
dissipation  that  surround  them,  make  me  hope,  that  experience 
will  open  the  way  to  some  effectual  and  durable  method  of  doing 
all  the  good  they  wish,  both  in  the  way  of  relief  and  detection. 
Lady  Charlotte  Finch,  and  her  two  daughters,  her  sister.  Lady 
Juliana  Penn,  Lady  Spencer,  Lady  Erskine,  Lord  and  Lady  Dar- 
tree.  Lady  Dartmouth,  your  friend  Mr  Hawkins  Browne,  the 
Dutchess  of  Northumberland,  Lord  and  Lady  Willoughby,  Miss 
Cooper,  Miss  Proby,  Mrs  Eliz.  Carter,  and  a  very  great  number 
besides,  give  up  the  greatest  part  of  their  time  and  thoughts  to  this 
business,  to  such  a  degree,  that  some  have  suffered  in  their  health 
by  it. 

"  Who  would  have  expected,  some  time  ago,  to  be  so  edified 
in  the  year  1774,  in  contemplating  the  occupations  of  one  of  the 
first  and  most  numerous  societies  in  the  environs  of  St  James's  ? 
I  know  this  will  give  double  satisfaction  to  you,  as  it  tends  to  con- 
firm your  system  of  innate  goodness,  for  I  am  sure  the  greatest 
part  of  this  society  did  not  acquire  theirs,  either  by  prejudice  of 
education,  or  by  the  London  habits,  in  which  they  were  early 
initiated.  I  dare  say  it  would  give  you  the  greatest  satisfaction  to 
attend  at  any  of  these  weekly  meetings,  where  you  would  see  so 
many  amiable  people,  attentive,  for  several  hours  together,  to  the 
sole  purpose  of  trying  to  alleviate  the  distresses  of  their  fellow- 
creatures." 

LETTER  LXXXVIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  LADY  MAYNE. 

Aberdeen,  20th  May,  1774. 

"  I  HAVE  enclosed  an  answer  to  Mr  John  Pitt's  very  kincf 
offer,  which  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  forward.     I  thank  him  for 


232  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

his  generosity,  of  which,  indeed,  I  have  a  very  affecting  sense ; 
but  I  tell  him,  that,  by  the  advice  of  my  best  friends,  I  have  given 
up  all  thoughts  of  entering  into  the  church,  many  months  ago. 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,  madam,  for  your  agreeable  account 
of  the  charitable  society,  lately  established  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
St  James's.  It  is,  as  you  observe,  an  honour  to  my  theory  of  virtue : 
but,  what  gives  me  much  more  pleasure,  (theorist  as  I  am)  it  does 
honour  also  to  the  virtue  and  good  sense  of  the  age,  it  does  honour 
to  human  nature.  I  do  not  know  any  thing  more  desirable,  nor 
more  difficult,  than  to  lay  down,  and  can*y  into  execution,  a  proper 
plan  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  which,  without  encouraging  idleness 
or  vice,  shall  administer  real  comfort  to  the  helpless  and  the  needy. 
The  provision,  established  by  your  poor's  rate  in  England,  is  indeed 
very  ample,  nay,  in  some  places  so  exorbitant,  that  I  should  think 
nothing  could  flourish  in  those  places,  but  poverty.  I  have  heard 
of  eight,  ten,  nay,  even  fourteen  shillings  in  the  pound,  paid,  in 
some  parishes,  to  the  poor's  rate,  which,  added  to  the  land-tax, 
would  seem  to  make  the  land-holder  the  poorest  man  in  the  dis- 
trict. There  must  be  some  grievous  mismanagement,  both  in  the 
exaction  and  application  of  such  sums  ;  and  it  were  most  devoutly 
to  be  wished,  that  the  legislature  would  endeavour  to  provide  a  re- 
medy for  so  enormous  an  evil.  Till  this  be  done,  all  that  indivi- 
duals can  in  prudence  do,  is  to  enquire  into,  and  relieve  the  neces- 
sities of  those  poor,  who  live  in  their  neighbourhood,  and  with 
whose  circumstances  they  are  well  acquainted,  either  from  personal 
knowledge,  or  undoubted  information.  Were  this  done  in  all  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  the  poor  would  be  better  supplied  than  by  any 
legal  provision,  how  great  soever  ;  and  begging,  as  a  trade,  would 
be  at  an  end ;  and  nothing  can  be  more  praise-worthy,  than  for  per- 
sons of  rank  and  fortune  to  set  the  example  of  so  benevolent  an 
institution. 

"  A  prince  of  Liege,  in  order  to  cancel  all  at  once  the  wrong 
side  of  his  spiritual  account,  bequeathed,  on  his  death-bed,  hit 
whole  fortune,  which  was  very  large,  to  the  poor,  appointing  the 
magistrates  of  Liege  his  administrators.  The  consequence  is, 
that  of  all  the  beggars  and  vagabonds  in  the  Netherlands,  Liege  is 
"now  the  common  receptacle.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  an 
army  of  five  or  six  thousand  of  these  people  to  invest  the  house  of 
the  chief  magistrate^  and  threaten  to  extirpate  him,  and  all  his 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  233 

generation,  with  fire  and  sword,  if  he  does  not  instantly  make  a 
pecuniary  distribution.  The  gentleman  from  whom  I  have  this 
account,  and  who  is  a  person  of  sense  and  veracity,  resided  some 
time  in  Liege,  and,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  multitude  of  beggars  that 
swarm  in  the  streets  of  that  town,  told  me  further,  that  one  day,  in 
walking  half  a  mile,  he  gave  away,  to  professed  beggars,  not  less 
than  fifty-eight  pieces  of  money.  I  need  not  tell  your  Ladyship 
what  inferences  are  to  be  drawn  from  this  story." 

LETTER  LXXXVIIL* 

MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Sandleford,  21st  June,  1773* 

"  MY  health  is  greatly  improved  since  I  came  hither,  and  I 
•shall  be  able  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  the  Dutchess  of  Portland's 
conversation,  and  the  charms  of  Bulstrode.  I  had  the  honour  and 
happiness  of  passing  many  of  my  youthful  days  in  that  society, 
and  that  place  ;  so  that  I  feel  a  more  tender  and  sincere  joy  when 
I  return  to  it,  than  I  find  any  where  else.  The  Dutchess  does 
honour  to  her  sex,  and  to  her  rank  ;  peculiar  purity  and  dignity 
have  distinguished  her  through  every  stage  of  life.  Her  example, 
as  a  daughter,  a  wife,  a  mother,  have  not  been  excelled  by  any 
one  ;  as  a  lady  of  the  highest  birth,  rank,  and  fortune,  it  has  not 
been  equalled.  Her  humility,  benevolence,  and  generosity,  give 
an  amiableness  to  her  whole  conduct,  and  make  every  one  round 
her  happy. 

"  I  long  to  see  you  here,  I  had  yesterday  thirty -six  haymakers^ 
and  their  children,  at  dinner,  in  a  grove  in  the  garden.  When  they 
work  in  my  sight,  I  love  to  see  that  they  eat  as  well  as  labour,  and 
©ften  send  them  a  treat,  to  which  they  bring  an  appetite  that  gives 
a  better  relish  than  the  Madeira  wine,  and  Cayenne  pepper,  in 
which  the  alderman  stews  his  tuitle.  You  would  have  enjoyed  the 
sight  of  this  feast :  to  which  temperance  was  steward,  frugality 
cook,  and  hunger  the  guest." 

•  The  following  seven  letters  ought  to  have  been  inserted  at  their  proper 
dates.  I  prefer  giving  them  in  this  manner  to  the  reader,  rather  than  wifh- 
hold  them  altogether. 


234  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  LXXXIX. 


MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DU  BEATTIE. 


August  23cl,  177S. 

"  WHILE  my  imagination  was  delighting  itself,  in  painting 
you  in  all  the  floi'id  colours,  and  utmost  glow  of  prosperity  and  joy, 
you  were,  in  fact,  languishing  on  a  sick  bed !  What  a  poor 
"  limitary  cherub"*  is  our  "  divine  Alma!"  ignorant  of  all  thing?; 
that  do  not  pass  in  her  presence,  and  often  deceived  in  those  that 
do  I  I  flatter  myself,  that  the  fresh  air,  and  tranquillity  of  this  place, 
will  soon  restore  your  strength  and  spirits. 

"  I  am  delighted  with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds'  plan,  and  do  not 
doubt  but  he  will  make  a  very  noble  picture  of  it.  I  class  Sir 
Joshua  with  the  greatest  geniuses  that  have  ever  appeared  in  the 
art  of  painting ;  and  I  wish  he  was  employed  by  the  public,  in  some 
great  work,  that  would  do  honour  to  our  country  in  future  ages. 
He  has  the  spirit  of  a  Grecian  artist.  The  Athenians  did  not  em- 
ploy such  men  in  painting  portraits  to  place  over  a  chimney,  or 
the  door  of  a  private  cabinet.  I  long  to  see  the  picture  he  is  now 
designing ;  virtue  and  truth  are  subjects  woi'thy  of  the  artist  and 
the  man.  He  has  an  excellent  moral  character,  and  is  most  pleas- 
ing and  amiable  in  society ;  and,  with  great  talents,  has  uncommon 
humility  and  gentleness." 


LETTER  XC. 

REV.  DR  MAJENDIE  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Kew-Green,  October  l9tli,  1773. 

"  AS  soon  as  your  favour  of  the  10th  September  last,  and  the 
copies  attending  it,  reached  me  here,  I  failed  not  immediately  to 
make  use  of  the  whole,  as  it  had  been  agreed  upon  between  us. 

*  Milton. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  ,235 

The  two  copies  of  your  "  Minstrel"  were  most  gi*aciously  received 
by  their  Majesties,  and  your  letter  of  the  above  date  read  through 
by  both  with  apparent  satisfaction  :  and  no  wonder,  as  a  vein  of 
propriety,  good  sense,  and  manly  gratitude,  is  so  conspicuous  in 
every  part  of  it.  May  you,  good  sir,  long  enjoy  the  pleasure 
arising  from  such  feelings,  and  ever  have  the  additional  one,  of 
disseminating  them  all  around  you.  This  I  know  to  be  your  fixed 
purpose  ;  a  nobler  one  you  cannot  have  in  view.  May  every  cir-r 
cumstance  in  life  concur  to  crown  it  with  success, 

"  Your  "  Minstrel"  (for  a  very  neat  copy  of  which  I  have  now 
to  tliank  you)  I  have  read  with  much  satisfaction.  As  far  as  I  am 
able  to  judge  of  this  kind  of  composition,  it  seems  adequate  to  the 
subject ;  the  verse  flowing  easily,  and  unaffectedly ;  the  senti- 
ments of  the  young  hero  of  the  piece,  such  as  unvitiated  nature 
suggests ;  and  your  descriptions,  in  many  places,  truly  poetical 
and  sublime.  Your  stanzas  XL,  and  XLI,  are  happily  brought  in, 
well  executed.  So  deserved  a  stricture  upon  the  grovelling  Pyrr- 
honians,  and  Epicureans,  is  worthy  of  the  author  of  the  "  Essay 
"  on  Truth."  Pray  go  on  with  a  subject  you  have  so  successfully 
begun.  Let  us  soon  see  the  good,  the  innocent,  the  guiltless  Edwin 
(no  more  your  own,  since  the  time  you  have  been  pleased  to  show 
him  to  the  public)  proceeding  through  life  as  he  has  commenced 
it.  Nothing  can  be  a  bar  to  his  merits  and  happiness  in  the  worlc^ 
provided.  Quails  ab  incepto  processerit^  et  sibi  constet.  You,  sir,  have 
fostered  him  into  the  world.  How  can  he  miscarry,  under  so  able 
a  Mentor?" 


LETTER  XCL 


MRS  lylONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 


Snndleford,  31st  October,  1773. 

"  I  HAVE  just  begun  a  posthumous  work  of  the  famous 
llelvetius  (who  wrote  a  book  called  "  L'esprit,"  some  years  ago). 
It  is  astonishing  to  see  how  the  understandings  and  language  of  the 


235  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

iFrench  are  corrupted,  since  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  I  am  particu- 
larly provoked  at  one  practice  of  theirs,  which  is,  whenever  they 
repeat  an  old,  and  long  acknowledged  truth,  they  endeavour  to  put 
it  off  as  their  own  observation  and  discovery  ;  and  every  novel  fal- 
lacy, the  offspring  of  their  own  brain,  they  introduce  as  a  known 
and  demonstrated  argument,  verified  by  experience.  What  a  cheat 
should  we  account  a  shop-keeper,  who  put  the  sterling  mark  on 
his  pewter,  and  having  in  his  warehouse  only  three  or  four  silver 
spoons  and  salts,  omitted  to  mark  them  with  the  true  indication  of 
their  value,  and  how  surprised  would  the  customer  be,  when  he 
found  he  had  prized  most  highly  the  baser  metal  !'* 


LETTER  XCIL 

MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

London,  4th  April,  177^. 

"  I  HAVE  for  six  different  mornings  intended  writing  to  you, 
and  as  often  have  been  disappointed,  by  persons,  who,  with  very 
polite  intentions  of  making  me  civil  visits,  robbed  me  of  the  hours 
I  had  destined  to  a  more  pleasing  purpose.  With  great  satisfac- 
tion I  consigned  your  charming  "  Minstrel"  to  Mr  Dilly  ;  it  will 
soon  come  abroad,  and,  I  have  no  doubt,  meet  with  the  highest  ap- 
probation. You  have  added  many  fine  stanzas  since  I  saw  it,  and  I 
like  much  the  conclusion,  though  it  does  not  belong  to  the  subject. 
However,  it  is  the  sweetest  office  of  the  Minstrel,  to  sing  the  praise 
of  a  dear  departed  friend.  A  prose  panegyric,  like  the  the  cypress 
tree,  does  but  with  lugubre  state  shade  the  tomb  :  the  Parnas- 
sian Bay  adorns  it,  and  gives  it  a  sanctity,  and  throws  the  lustre 
of  immortality  around  it.  I  read  with  new  pleasure,  and  new 
wonder,  (and  wonder  is  rarely  repeated)  the  felicity  with  which 
you  have  given  the  sweetest  graces  of  poetry  to  the  severest  and 
gravest  subjects.  It  does  not  surprise  me  to  see  garlands  of  roses 
bloom  on  the  brow  of  youth,  beauty  and  pleasure  ;  but  to  see  them 
so  gracefully  adorn  the  hoary  head  of  the  legislator,  and  the  pen- 
sive brow  of  the  philosopher,  shews  the  consumate  address  of  the 
artist." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  237 


LETTER  XCIII. 


MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 


April  30th,  1774. 

-"  I  AM  ashamed  that  I  have  not  conveyed  to  you  the  fame  of 
your  "  Minstrel,"  which  comes  in  the  sweetest  and  the  loudest  notes 
to  my  ear  every  day.  Indeed  it  is  surprising  to  find  Edwin  pre- 
serve his  smplicity,  his  harmony,  and  his  poetical  imagination,  in 
the  school  of  philosophy,  and  in  the  din  of  society.  The  stanzas, 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  your  friend,  have  drawn  tears  and  sighs 
from  all  who  have  lost  a  friend,  or  have  one  to  lose  ;  it  is  on  insensi- 
bility alone  that  it  does  not  make  deep  impression. 

"  I  have  not  time  to  enter  into  any  discussion  of  Dr  Bryant's 
Analysis  of  Ancient  Mythology,  Mr  Warton's  History  of  Poetry, 
and  Lord  Chesterfield's  Letters,  all  which  I  have  been  reading.  I 
must  tell  you,  that  Samuel  Johnson  says  of  Lord  Chesterfield's  In- 
structions to  his  Son,  that  they  are  to  teach  the  manners  of  a  danc- 
ing-master, with  the  morals  of  a  prostitute.  The  sentence  is  too 
severe,  to  be  perfectly  just,  and  the  character  too  short,  to  be  per- 
fectly descriptive  ;  but  there  is  something  too  near  truth,  and  too 
like  description.  One  grieves  that  Lord  Chesterfield's  judgment 
and  talent  should  have  been  misapplied  in  the  important  matter  of 
forming  a  son's  character;  but  more  of  this  at  our  better  leisure. 
Your  portrait  is  in  the  exhibition ;  it  is  very  like,  and  the  piece 
worthy  the  pencil  of  Sir  Joshua. 


LETTER  XCIV. 

REV.  DR  MAJENDIE  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Windsor,  April  26th,  1774. 

"  IT  is  with  much  pleasure,  that  I  come  now,  though  later  than 
I  could  have  wished,  to  give  you  an  account  of  the  reception  your 
second  book  of  the  "  Minstrel"  has  met  with.     Dilly  having  given 


238  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

me  notice  that  it  was  printed,  and  would  be  shortly  published,  I  de- 
sired that  he  would  use  the  utmost  dispatch,  that  very  day,  which 
was  last  Tuesday,  to  get  me  two  copies,  as  elegantly  bound  as  so 
short  a  notice  would  permit,  that  I  might  be  able  to  present  them 
to  their  Majesties  early  next  morning ;  as  else  the  opportunity 
would  be  lost,  I  being  obliged  to  be  absent  for  three  weeks.  This 
request  was  accordingly  complied  with,  and  the  books  were  pre- 
sented to  their  Majesties,  at  a  time  they  were  both  together.  To  a 
heart  like  yours,  my  dear  sir,  it  must  be  no  small  satisfaction  to  be 
informed,  that  they  were  received  with  that  same  goodness,  and 
affable  condescension,  which  you  experienced  last  summer.  Some 
observations  were  made  upon  your  character  and  writings,  that 
shewed  how  well  they  are  able  to  appreciate  men  and  things  ;  and  I 
was  particularly  ordered  by  the  Queen,  to  let  you  know,  that  she 
truly  values  you. 

"  Having  thus  given  you  an  account  of  my  commission,  I  should 
be  wanting  both  to  you  and  myself,  if  I  omit  returning  you  thanks 
for  your  kind  attention,  in  ordering  me  a  copy  of  your  second  book 
of  the  "  Minstrel,"  which  I  have  read  with  the  greatest  satisfaction, 
and  lent  it  to  others  here,  who  entertain  the  same  notion  of  its 
moral  and  poetical  merit,  as  I  do.  May  you  long  continue  to  be 
an  ornament,  a  blessing  to  human  nature,  and  to  the  age  you  live 

in! 

"  Transferred  from  a  Prebend  of  Worcester,  to  a  Canonry  here, 
by  his  Majesty's  great  goodness,  I  am  now  keeping  my  strict  resi- 
dence. I  have  brought  down  with  me  the  last  edition  of  your 
Essay,  &C.  and  given  it  a  second  reading.  The  whole  pleases  me 
more  and  more.  I  have  been  paiticularly  delighted  Avith  the 
2d  Chapter  of  Part  III.  The  critical  account  you  there  give  of 
Aristotle's  Works,  £cc.  the  fateofmetaphysic  from  his  time  down 
to  ours ;  the  crafty  and  unfair  method  of  our  late  sceptics  handling 
the  subjects  they  undertake  to  write  upon,  which  you  have  so  fairly 
laid  open  ;  and  the  manly  warmth  with  which  you  refute  them ; 
form  together  a  masterpiece,  by  itself.  It  is  such  a  one,  in  my 
humble  opinion,  as  deserves  the  thanks,  not  only  of  the  literati, 
but  of  all  honest  and  good  men.  I  am  glad  to  hear,  that  the  sub- 
scription to  the  quarto  edition  is  likely  to  turn  to  account.  I  have 
not  been  wanting,  on  my  part,  to  promote  it,  as  far  as  my  little  power 
and  influence  could  reach.    To  Lady  Mayne,  and  Mrs  Montagu, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  239 

you  are  greatly  obliged  on  this  occasion,  there  is  no  doubt  of  it. 
However,  to  your  merit,  as  a  champion  in  the  cause  of  truth,  is 
chiefly  owing  the  success  it  met  with  ;  which  gives  me  so  much 
the  more  pleasure,  as  it  affords  a  proof,  that  the  age  we  live  in, 
though  bad,  hath  sense  enough  to  know,  where  rewards  and  en- 
couragements are  due,  and  readiness  to  bestow  them  accordingly." 


LETTER  XCV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  3d  May,  1774. 

"  I  AM  greatly  obliged  and  honoured  by  what  the  hierarchy 
have  done,  and  are  doing  for  me.  Of  Dr  Law's  attack  I  shall  take 
no  further  notice.* 

"  I  received  a  letter,  two  days  ago,  from  Dr  Hurd.f  It  is  a 
very  kind  letter,  and  much  in  praise  of  the  "  Minstrel."  Lord 
Chesterfield's  letters,  he  says,  are  well  calculated  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching  "  manners  without  morals"  to  our  young  people  of 
quality.  This  opinion  I  had  indeed  begun  to  form  concerning 
them,  from  some  short  extracts  in  the  news-papers.  In  one  of 
these  extracts  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  such  a  pompous 
encomium  on  Bolinbroke's  Patriot  King ;  which  has  always 
appeared  to  ine  a  mere  vox  et  firxterea  nihil.  Plato  was  one  of  the 
first  who  introduced  the  fashion  of  giving  us  fine  words  instead  of 
good  sense ;  in  this,  as  in  his  other  faults,  he  has  been  successfully 
imitated  by  Shaftesbury ;  but  I  know  not  whether  he,  or  any  other 
author,  has  ever  put  together  so  many  words,  with  so  little  mean- 
ing, as  Bolinbroke,  in  his  papers  on  patriotism. 

"  Lord  Monboddo's  second  volume  has  been  published  some 
time.  It  is,  I  think,  much  better  than  the  first,  and  contains  much 
learning,  and  not  a  little  ingenuity :  but  can  never  be  very  interest- 
ing, except  to  those  who  aim  at  a  grammatical  and  critical  know- 
ledge of  the  Greek  tongue.    Lord  Kaimes's  Sketches  I  have  seen. 

*  See  p.  228.  \  Now  Lord  Bishop  of  Worcester. 


240  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

They  are  not  much  different  from  what  I  expected.  A  man,  Avho 
reads  thirty  years,  with  a  view  to  collect  facts,  in  support  of  two  or 
three  whimsical  theories,  may,  no  doubt,  collect  a  great  number  of 
facts,  and  make  a  very  large  book.  The  world  will  wonder  when 
they  hear  of  a  modern  philosopher,  who  seriously  denies  the  ex- 
istence of  such  a  principle  as  universal  benevolence  ; — a  point,  of 
which  no  good  man  can  entertain  a  doubt  for  a  single  moment. 

"  I  am  sorry  for  poor  Goldsmith.  There  were  some  things  in 
his  temper  which  I  did  not  like ;  but  I  liked  many  things  in  his 
genius ;  and  I  was  sorry  to  find,  last  summer,  that  he  looked  upon 
me  as  a  person  who  seemed  to  stand  between  him  and  his  interest. 
However,  when  next  we  meet,  all  this  will  be  forgotten ;  and  the 
jealousy  of  authors,  which,  Dr  Gregory  used  to  say,  was  next  in 
rancour  to  that  of  physicians,  will  be  no  more. 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  are  pleased  with  the  additional  stanzas  of 
the  second  canto  of  the  "  Minstrel ;"  but  I  fear  you  are  too  indul- 
gent. How  it  will  be  relished  by  the  public,  I  cannot  even  guess. 
I  know  all  its  faults;  but  I  cannot  remedy  them,  for  they  are  faults 
in  the  first  concoction ;  they  result  from  the  imperfection  of  the 
plan.  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,  madam,  for  advising  that  two 
copies  should  be  presented  to  their  Majesties,  which,  Dilly  writes 
me  word,  has  been  done  by  my  good  friend,  Dr  Majendie.  This 
honour  I  meant  to  have  solicited,  when  the  second  edition  came 
out,  which  will  be  soon.  My  reason  for  this  delay  was,  that  the 
first  edition  having  been  put  to  the  press,  and  some  sheets  of  it 
printed  off  before.  I  knew,  I  had  it  not  in  my  power  to  order  any 
copies  on  fine  paper.  But  it  is  better  as  it  is ;  the  paper  of  tht 
copy  I  have,  is  not  at  all  amiss. 

"  My  "  Essay  on  Laughter"  advances  but  slowly.  I  have  all 
my  materials  at  hand  ;  but  my  health  obliges  me  to  labour  very 
moderately  in  reducing  them  into  order.  I  am  very  unwilling  to 
relinquish  the  hope  of  receiving  from  you,  madam,  some  assist- 
ance in  completing  my  volume.  I  beg  you  will  think  of  it.  Per- 
haps you  may  find  more  leisure  when  you  come  into  the  north. 

"  Mr  Mason  has  never  answered  the  letter  I  wrote  to  him,  con- 
cerning the  subscription.  I  guessed  from  the  tenor  of  his  letters> 
that  he  is,  (as  you  say)  out  of  humour  with  the  world.  Mr  Dilly 
Trvrites  me  word,  that  he  says  he  is  tempted  to  throw  his  I't/e  of  Mr 
fh-ay  (which  is  noAv  finished,  or  nearly  so)  into  the  fire,  so  much  is 


i 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  24a 

he  dissatisfied  with  the  late  decision  on  literary  property.  By  the 
way,  I  heartily  wish  the  legislature  may,  by  a  new  law,  set-thig 
matter  on  a  proper  footing.  Literature  must  suffer,  if  this  decision 
remains  unobviated." 


LETTER  XCVL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  BLACKLOCK. 

Aberdeen,  23d  May,  1774. 

"  IF  the  second  part  of  the  "  Minstrel"  has  contributed  for  one 
half  hour  to  your  amusement,  it  has  in  some  measure  answered  the 
end  for  which  it  was  written.  It  was  much  more  laborious,  than 
the  first  part,  in  the  composing :  but  I  question  whether  it  will  be 
so  popular.  The  public  taste  requires,  and  justly  too,  more  fable, 
than  my  plan  will  allow  me  to  put  into  it ;  for  fable  is  to  poetry, 
what  bones  are  to  the  human  body,  or  timbers  and  rafters  to  a 
building.  But  my  purpose,  from  the  beginning,  was  to  make  a 
didactic  or  philosophical,  rather  than  a  narrative  poem  :  and  the 
title  unluckily  gives  the  reader  reason  to  expect  more  story,  than  I 
can,  without  the  greatest  inconveniency,  afford.  However,  I  hope 
the  piece  will  receive  the  encouragement  which  it  may  really 
deserve  :  as  yet,  I  have  no  reason  to  complain  ;  for  a  second  edition 
of  the  second  part  was  called  for,  within  a  week  after  the  publi- 
cation." 

LETTER  XCVIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 


Aberdeen,  27th  May,  1774. 

"  I  AM  much  diverted  by  Johnson's  character  of  Lord  Ches- 
terfield's Letters.  Dr  Hurd  and  Mr  Mason  (for  I  have  heard  from 
them  both,  since  the  second  part  of  the  "  Minstrel"  came  out)  give 
nearly  the  same  account  of  them. 

2a 


242  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Mr  Mason  seems  now  to  be  tolerably  reconciled  to  the  sub- 
scription, but  he  has  found  a  new  subject  of  concern,  in  this  allego- 
rical picture,  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  which,  he  thinks,  can  hardly 
fail  to  hurt  my  character  in  good  earnest.  I  know  not  certainly, 
in  what  light  Mr  Mason  considers  this  picture  ;  buf,  so  far  as  I 
have  yet  heard,  he  is  singular  in  his  opinion.  If  Mr  Gray  had 
done  me  the  honour  to  address  an  ode  to  me,  and  speak  in  high 
terms  of  my  attack  on  the  sceptics,  my  enemies  might  have  blamed 
him  for  his  partiality,  and  the  world  might  have  thought  that  he 
had  employetl  his  muse  in  too  mean  an  office  ;  but  would  any  body 
have  blamed  me  ?  If  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  thinks  more  favourably 
of  me  than  I  deserve,  (which  he  certainly  does)  and  if  he  entertains 
the  same  favourable  sentiments  of  my  cause,  which  I  wish  him, 
&nd  all  th€.  world  to  entertain  ;  I  should  be  glad  to  know  fi-om  Mr 
Mason,  what  there  is  in  all  this,  to  fix  any  blame  on  my  character  ? 
Indeed,  if  /  had  planned  this  picture,  and  urged  Sir  Joshua  to  paint 
it,  and  paid  him  for  his  trouble,  and  then  have  solicited  admittance 
for  it  into  the  exhibition,  the  world  would  have  had  good  reason  to 
exclaim  against  me,  as  a  vain  coxcomb  ;  but  I  am  persuaded,  that 
nobody  will  ever  suspect  me  of  this  :  for  nobody  can  do  so,  without 
first  supposing  that  I  am  a  fool. 

2  "  About  three  weeks  ago,  I  received  a  very  short  letter  from 
'Dr  Priestley,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy  :  "  Heverend  Sir, 
"  Thinking  it  right  that  every  person  should  be  apprised  of  any 
"  publication  in  which  his  writings  are  animadverted  upon,  I  take 
■"  the  liberty  to  send  you  a  copy  of  a  sheet,  that  will  soon  be  pub- 
"  lished,  in  which  I  announce  iny  intention  to  remark  upon  the 
"  principles  of  your  '  Essay  on  Truth'.  I  am,  reverend  sir,  your 
"  very  humble  servant,  J.  Priestley."  This  sheet  contains  a  pre- 
face to  a  third  vol.  of  "  Institutes  of  Religion."  That  you,  madam, 
may  be  the  better  enabled  to  judge  between  him  and  me,  I  send  it 
to  you  in  a  separate  packet,  which  will  be  delivered  along  with 
this. 

"  I  never  saw  Dr  Priestley  ;  I  greatly  esteem  his  talents  as  a 
natural  philosopher,  particularly  as  a  chemist:  whether  his  talents 
in  nioral  philosophy  be  as  distinguished,  I  have  no  opportunity  of 
knowing.  His  excessive  admiration  of  Mr  Hartley's  book,  (see 
the  preface,  page  2 1 .)  I  have  heard  mentioned  as  one  of  the  learned 
Doctor's  hobby-horses.     I  am  not  ignorant  of  his  connections  in 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  243 

the  way  of  party  ;  but  I  hope,  in  this  attack  upon  my  book,  he  is 
determined  by  nothing  but  a  love  of  truth.  I  need  not  tell  you, 
that  he  is  the  oracle  of  the  Socinians  and  Dissenters ;  and  the 
public  will  no  doubt  expect,  that  I  should  answ^  his  preface.  This 
will  not  be  a  difficult  matter.  The  Doctor  must  certainly  have 
read  my  book,  since  he  declares,  in  print,  his  disapprobation  of  it ; 
but  that  he  has  read  it  attentively,  and  without  prejudice,  is  not 
clear.  Certain  it  is,  that  every  one  of  his  remarks  on  me,  as  they 
appear  in  this  preface,  is  founded  in  a  gross  misapprehension  of 
my  doctrine.  I  have  written  him  a  letter,  which  I  enclose  in  this 
packet  for  your  perusal ;  if  you  approve  of  it,  please  to  cause  it  be 
forwarded  to  him  ;  if  not,  you  may  suppress  it. 

"  One  would  think,  from  reading  Dr  Priestley's  preface,  that 
Dr  Reid,  Dr  Oswald,  and  I,  wrote  in  concert,  and  with  a  view  to 
enforce  the  very  same  hypothesis.  But  the  truth  is,  that  I  write  in 
concert  with  nobody  :  Dr  Oswald's  book  I  never  read,  till  after  my 
own  was  published  :  and  Dr  Reid  (to  whom  I  have  made  all  due 
acknowledgments  for  the  instruction  I  have  received  from  his  work) 
never  saw  mine  till  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the  public.  The  con- 
troversial part  of  Dr  Reid's  book  regards  the  existence  of  matter 
chiefly  ;  Dr  Oswald's  system  (though  there  are  many  good  things 
in  his  book)  I  never  distinctly  understood.  The  former  of  these 
authors  differs  in  many  things  from  me  ;  and  the  latter  (if  I  am 
rightly  informed)  has  actually  attacked  a  fundamental  principle  of 
mine,  in  a  second  volume,  lately  published,  which  I  have  not  yet 
got  leisure  to  read." 


I  have  already  observed,  that  among  various  plans  suggested 
by  Dr  Beattie's  friends  in  England,  for  the  advancement  of  his 
fortune,  that  of  his  taking  orders  in  the  Church  of  England  had 
been  mentioned  to  him.*  It  has  been  seen,  by  the  preceding  cor- 
respondence with  Lady  Mayne,  and  Mr  John  Pitt,  that  he  had 
entirely  abandoned  that -idea.  The  zeal  of  his  friends,  however, 
was  not  abated,  and  he  received  another  very  flattering  proposition, 
to  the  same  purpose,  through  the  hands  of  Dr  Porteus. 

•  See  p.  177. 


S44  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  XCVIIL 


THE  REV.  DR  PORTEUS  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Hunton,  near  Maidstone,  Kent,  July  24th,  1774. 

"  I  AM  desired,  by  one  of  the  Episcopal  bench,  whose  name 
I  am  not  yet  at  liberty  to  mention,  to  ask  you,  whether  you  have 
any  objections  to  taking  orders  in  the  Church  of  England.  If  you 
have  not,  there  is  a  living  now  vacant  in  his  gift,  worth  near  five 
Jiyndred  pounds  a-year,  which  will  be  at  your  service. 

"  Be  pleased  to  send  me  your  answer  to  this,  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  direct  it  to  me  at  Peterborough,  in  Northamptonshire,  where 
T  shall  probably  be,  before  yoqr  letter  can  reach  me.  I  feel  myself 
happy,  in  being  the  instrument  of  communicating  to  you  so  honour- 
able and  advantageous  a  proof  of  that  esteem,  which  your  literary 
labours  have  secured  to  you,  amongst  all  ranks  of  people." 


To  this  proposition,  so  very  flattering,  as  well  as  advantageous, 
Dr  Beattie  gave  the  following  admirable  reply,  which  does  the 
highest  credit  to  the  purity  of  his  principles,  and  the  integrity  of 
his  mind. 


LETTER  XCIX. 


pR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  PORTEUS. 

Peterhead,  4th  August,  1774. 

"  I  HAVE  made  many  efforts  to  express,  in  something  like 
'adequate  language,  my  grateful  sense  of  the  honour  done  me  by 
the  Right  Reverend  Prelate,  who  makes  the  offer  conveyed  to  me 
In  your  most  friendly  lettep  of  the  24th  July.  But  every  new  effort 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  245 

serves  only  to  convince  me,  more  and  more,  how  unequal  I  am  to 
the  task. 

"  When  I  consider  the  extraordinary  reception  which  my  weak 
endeavours  in  the  cause  of  truth  have  met  with,  and  compare  the 
greatness  of  my  success,  with  the  insignificance  of  my  merit,  what 
reasons  have  I  not  to  be  thankful  and  humble !  to  be  ashamed 
that  I  have  done  so  little  public  service,  and  to  regret  that  so  little 
is  in  my  fiower  !  to  rouse  every  power  of  my  nature  to  purposes  of 
^benevolent  tendency,  in  order  to  justify,  by  my  intentions  at  least, 
the  unexampled  generosity  of  my  benefactors  I 

"  My  religious  opinions  would  no  doubt,  if  I  were  to  declare 
them,  sufficiently  account  for,  and  vindicate,  my  becoming  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  I  flatter  myself,  that  my 
studies,  way  of  life,  and  habits  of  thinking,  have  always  been  such, 
as  would  not  disqualify  me  for  an  Ecclesiastical  profession.  If 
I  were  to  become  a  clergyman,  the  Church  of  England  would 
certainly  be  my  choice  ;  as  I  think,  that,  in  regard  to  church- 
government,  and  church-service,  it  has  many  great  and  peculiar 
advantages.  And  I  am  so  far  from  having  any  natural  disinclina- 
tion to  holy  orders,  that  I  have  several  times,  at  different  periods  of 
my  life,  been  disposed  to  enter  into  them,  and  have  directed  my 
studies  accordingly.  Various  accidents,  however,  prevented  me  ; 
some  of  them  pretty  remarkable,  and  such  as  I  think  I  might, 
without  presumption,  ascribe  to  a  particular  interposition  of  provi- 
dence. 

"  The  offer,  now  made  me,  is  great  and  generous  beyond  all 
expectation.  I  am  well  aware  of  all  the  advantages  and  honours 
that  would  attend  my  accepting,  and  yet,  I  find  myself  obliged,  in 
conscience,  to  decline  it ;  as  I  lately  did  another  of  the  same  kind 
(though  not  so  considerable)  that  was  made  me,  on  the  part  of 
another  English  gentleman.*  The  reasons  which  did  then,  and  do 
now,  determine  me,  I  beg  leave,  sir,  briefly  to  lay  before  you. 

"  I  wrote  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  with  the  certain  prospect  of 
raising  many  enemies,  with  very  faint  hopes  of  attracting  the 
public  attention,  and  without  any  views  of  advancing  my  fortune. 
I  published  it,  however,  because  I  thought  it  might  probably  do  a 
Uttle  good,  by  bringing  to  nought,  or  at  least  lessening  the  reputa- 

•  See  liis  letter  to  Lady  Ma}ne,  p.  230. 


246  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

tion  of,  that  wretched  system  of  sceptical  philosophy,  which  had 
made  a  most  alarming  progress,  and  done  incredible  mischief  to 
this  country.  My  enemies  have  been  at  great  pains  to  represent 
my  views,  in  that  publication,  as  very  different :  and  that  my 
principal,  or  only  motive  was,  to  make  a  book,  and,  if  possible,  to 
raise  myself  higher  in  the  world.  So  that,  if  I  were  now  to  accept 
preferment  in  the  church,  I  should  be  apprehensive,  that  I  might 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  gainsayer,  and  give  the  world  some 
ground  to  believe,  that  my  love  of  truth  was  not  quite  so  ardent,  or 
so  pure,  as  I  had  pretended. 

"  Besides,  might  it  not  have  the  appearance  of  levity  and  insin- 
cerity, and,  by  some,  be  construed  into  a  want  of  principle,  if  I 
were  at  these  years,  (for  I  am  now  thirty-eight)  to  make  such  an 
important  change  in  my  way  of  life,  and  to  quit,  with  no  other  a/?- 
fiarent  motive  than  that  of  bettering  my  circumstances,  tliat  church 
of  which  I  have  hitherto  been  a  member?  If  my  book  has  any 
tendency  to  do  good,  as  I  flatter  myself  it  has,  I  would  not,  for  the 
wealth  of  the  Indies,  do  any  thing  to  counteract  that  tendency  ;  and 
I  am  afraid,  that  tendency  might  in  some  measure  be  counteracted, 
(at  least  in  this  country)  if  I  were  to  give  the  adversary  the  least 
gi'ound  to  charge  me  with  inconsistency.  It  is  true,  that  the  force 
of  my  reasonings  cannot  be  really  afiected  by  my  character  ;  truth 
is  truth,  whoever  be  the  speaker :  but  even  truth  itself  becomes 
less  respectable,  when  spoken,  or  supposed  to  be  spoken,  by  insin- 
cere lips. 

"  It  has  also  been  hinted  to  me,  by  several  persons  of  very 
sound  judgment,  that  what  I  have  written,  or  may  hereafter  write, 
in  favour  of  religion,  has  a  chance  of  being  more  attended  to,  if  I 
continue  a  layman,  than  if  I  were  to  become  a  clergyman.  Nor 
am  I  without  apprehensions,  (though  some  of  my  friends  think 
them  ill-founded)  that,  from  entering  so  late  in  life,  and  from  so 
remote  a  province  into  the  Church  of  England,  some  degree  of  un- 
gracefulness,  particularly  in  pronunciation,  might  adhere  to  my 
performances  in  public,  sufficient  to  render  them  less  pleasing,  and 
consequently  less  useful. 

"  Most  of  these  reasons  were  repeatedly  urged  upon  me,  during 
my  stay  in  England,  last  summer;  and  I  freely  own,  that,  the  more 
I  consider  them,  the  more  weight  they  seem  to  have.  And  from 
the  peculiar  manner  in  which   the  King  has  been  graciously 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  24r 

pleased  to  distinguish  me,  and  from  other  circumstances,  I  have 
some  gi'ound  to  presume,  that  it  is  his  Majesty's  pleasure,  that  I 
should  continue  where  I  am,  and  employ  my  leisure  hours  in  pro- 
secuting the  studies  I  have  begun.  This  I  can  find  time  to  do 
more  effectually  in  Scotland  than  in  England,  and  in  Aberdeen 
than  in  Edinburgh  ;  which,  by  the  bye,  was  one  of  my  chief  rea- 
sons for  declining  the  Edinburgh  professorship.  The  business  of 
my  professorship  here  is  indeed  toilsome :  but  I  have,  by  fourteen 
years  practice,  made  myself  so  much  master  of  it,  that  it  now  re- 
quires little  mental  labour ;  and  our  long  summer  vacation,  of  seven 
months,  leaves  me  at  my  own  disposal,  for  the  greatest  and  best 
part  of  the  year :  a  situation  favourable  to  literary  projects,  and 
now  become  necessary  to  my  health. 

"  Soon  after  my  return  home,  in  autumn  last,  I  had  occasion 
to  write  to  the  Archbishop  of  York,  on  this  subject.  I  specified 
my  reasons  for  giving  up  all  thoughts  of  church-preferment ;  and 
his  Grace  was  pleased  to  approve  of  them  ;  nay,  he  condescended 
so  far  as  to  say,  they  did  me  honour.  I  told  his  Grace,  moreover, 
that  I  had  already  given  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  my  noble  and 
generous  patrons  in  England,  and  could  not  think  of  being  any- 
longer  a  burden  to  them,  now  that  his  Majesty  had  so  graciously 
and  so  generously  made  for  me  a  provision  equal  to  my  wishes,  and 
such  as  puts  it  in  my  power  to  obtain,  in  Scotland,  every  conve- 
nience of  life,  to  which  I  have  any  title,  or  any  inclination  to 
aspire. 

*'  I  must,  therefore,  make  it  my  request  to  you,  that  you  would 
present  my  humble  respects,  and  most  thankful  acknowledgments, 
to  the  eminent  person,  at  whose  desire  you  wrote  your  last  letter, 
(whose  name  I  hope  you  will  not  be  under  the  necessity  of  conceal-- 
ing  from  me)  and  assure  him,  that,  though  I  have  taken  the  liberty 
to  decline  his  generous  offer,  I  shall,  to  the  last  hour  of  my  life, 
preserve  a  most  grateful  remembrance  of  the  honour  he  has  con- 
descended to  confer  upon  me  ;  and,  to  prove  myself  not  altogether 
unworthy  of  his  goodness,  shall  employ  that  health  and  leisure 
which  providence  may  hereafter  afford  me,  in  opposing  infidelity, 
heresy,  and  error,  and  in  promoting  sound  literature,  and  christian 
truth,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power." 


248  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Although  secrecy  was  thus  enjoined,  at  the  period  when  tlie 
correspondence  respecting  the  living  took  place,  yet  it  is  right, 
tnat  the  name  of  the  right  reverend  prelate,  who  made  this  most 
generous  oflFer  to  Dr  Beattie,  should  not  be  longer  concealed,  now 
that  both  are  dead.  Dr  Thomas,  at  that  time  Bishop  of  Winches- 
ter, Was  the  person,  whose  letter  to  Dr  Porteus  I  now  subjoin. 


LETTER  C. 


THE  BIGHT  REV.  THE  LORD  BISHOP  OF  WINCHESTER  TO  THE  REV. 
DR  PORTEUS. 

Farnham-Castle,  24th  July,  1774:. 

"  IT  is  now,  I  think,  three  weeks  ago  since  I  wrote  to  you. 
I  then  suggested  a  conversation  that  passed  between  us  at  Chel-sea, 
delating  to  Dr  Beattie,  and  my  disposition  to  shew  him  some  mark 
of  my  esteem  and  good-will. 

"  I  have  a  living  now  vacant,  of  five  hundred  pounds  a-year,  in 
Hants,  and  I  wish  that  you  would  sound  him,  with  secrecy,  upon 
the  subject,  and  let  me  have  a  line  from  you,  as  soon  as  you  can. 
The  living  has  been  vacant  a  month  ;  and  1  shall  have  no  rest  till 
I  can  dispose  of  it." 


The  transactions  which  I  have  here  related  respecting  the  Edin- 
burgh professorship,  and  the  church-preferment  offered  to  him  in 
England,  form  a  somewhat  remarkable  period  in  the  life  of  Dr 
Beattie,  as  they  evinced  the  fixed  resolution  he  had  taken,  and  from 
which  he  did  not  deviate,  of  continuing,  during  the  remainder  of 
his  days,  at  Aberdeen.  We  find  him,  indeed-,  paying  occasional 
visits  to  Edinburgh  and  London,  during  the  summer  months  of  the 
college-vacation.  But  these  visits  seem  to  have  had  no  other  object 
than  his  amusement,  and  the  enjoying  occasionally  the  society  of 
his  numerous  friends,  at  both  places.     He  was,  likewise  constant 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTlE.  249 

in  his  visits,  every  summer,  to  Peterhead,*  a  place  to  which  he  was 
strongly  attached,  and  in  which,  as  well  as  in  the  society  of  some 
friends  there,  he  much  delighted.  He  thought  the  air  of  the  place 
particularly  healthy  and  useful  to  his  constitution  :  "  and  I  have 
"  often,"  says  a  friend,  who  gave  me  this  information,  "  seen  him 
"  stand  for  a  long  time,  on  the  adjoining  promontory,  inhaling,  in  a 
"  fine  day,  the  pure  air  from  the  ocean,  and  enjoying  the  majestic 
"  prospect,  expressing  great  delight  in  both."  He  had  great  con- 
fidence, too,  in  the  tonic  powers  of  the  mineral  spring,  and  of  the 
salt-water  baths  ;  and  his  hope  of  being  able  to  go  through  his  pro- 
fessional duties  with  comfort,  during  the  winter,  was  in  exact  pro- 
portion to  the  length  of  time  he  had  been  able  to  spend  at  Peterhead, 
the  preceding  summer. 

Nor  was  it  on  account  of  the  waters,  the  baths,  and  the  healthful 
air  alone,  that  he  was  so  greatly  attached  to  Peterhead.  He  loved 
the  people,  and  they  loved  and  respected  him  ;  and  there  Were 
several  of  the  venerable  old  inhabitants  of  the  place,  for  whose  in- 
tegrity and  simplicity  of  character  he  entertained,  and  was  often 
heard  to  express,  a  high  regard.  Although  he  by  no  means  shun- 
ned the  society  of  the  numerous  strangers,  who  flock  to  Peterhead 
in  the  course  of  the  season,  and  sometimes  dined  with  them,  at  their 
common  table,  yet  he  spent  much  of  his  time  alone,  in  study,  or  in 
the  society  of  a  few  select  friends.  During  the  fine  weather,  he 
dedicated  many  hours  to  his  favourite  and  healthful  amusement  of 
walking  in  the  fields,  or  along  the  sea-shore  ;  and  he  used  pleasantly 
to  say,  that  there  was  not  a  road,  nor  a  foot-path,  not  a  rock,  nor  any 

*  Peterhead,  a  small  town  in  the  county  of  Aberdeen,  situated  on  the 
most  easterly  promontory  of  Scotland;  famous  for  a  Cliahbeate  spring-  of 
the  nature  of  the  waters  of  Tunbridge-vvells,  and  for  salt-water  baths  of  ad- 
mirable construction,  wliich  draw  thither  a  considerable  resort  of  fashionable 
company,  during  the  summer  season,  some  in  search  of  health,  and  others  of 
amusement.  But  it  is  chiefly  to  the  industry,  the  sobriety,  and  prudence  of 
the  inhabitants,  that  Peterhead,  from  being  merely  an  insignificant  fishing 
town,  owes  its  rapid  encrease  in  commerce,  manufactures,  and  consequent 
population  ;  so  that  from  two  thousand,  four  hundred,  and  tiventy  souls,  td 
which  number  only  the  inhabitants  amounted,  so  lately  as  the  year  1764,  the 
town  is  said  to  have  contained  no  fewer  than  four  thousaiul,  one  hundred,  in 
the  year  1794,  and  is  daily  encreasing.f 

t  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  Parish  of  Peterhead,  Vol.  XVI.  p.  vii.  and  p.  56S, 

2  I 


250  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

remarkable  stone  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Peterhead,  with  which  he 
was  not  J.trsotially  acquainted. 

One  of  the  chief  employments,  and,  indeed,  amusements  of  his 
leisure  hours,  at  this  period,  was  the  conducting,  and  superintend- 
ing the  education  of  his  eldest  son,  whom  he  placed,  first,  at  the 
usual  public  shoois  at  Aberdeen,  and,  afterwards,  at  the  Marischal 
college  in  that  city.  There,  the  youth's  proficiency  in  the  various 
branches  of  classical  learning  and  philosophy,  was  uncommonly 
great.  He  inherited,  no  doubt,  by  nature,  an  acute  genius,  which 
he  cultivated  by  incessant  and  laborious  application.  But  it  cannot 
be  questioned,  that  much  of  the  uncommon  progress  which  he  made 
in  the  various  branches  of  science,  to  which  he  applied  himself, 
must  have  been  owing  to  the  incalculable  advantages  which  he  dc' 
rived  from  the  taste,  the  learning,  and  the  unremitting  attention  of 
so  able  a  preceptor  as  his  father.  Of  young  Beattie,  I  shall  have 
ample  occasion  to  speak  hereafter. 


In  Dr  Beattie's  letters  to  Mrs  Montagu,  27th  May,  1774,  he  had 
mentioned  his  having  received  a  letter  from  Dr  Priestley,  intimat- 
ing his  intention  of  animadverting  on  the  "  Essay  on  Truth."  In 
the  following  letter  Dr  Beattie  takes  farther  notice  of  this  subject. 


LETTER  CL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Peterhead,  5th  August,  1774, 

«  DR  PRIESTLEY'S  Preface  is  come  out,  without  any 
acknowledgment  of  the  information  conveyed  to  him  in  my  letter. 
But  he  has  written  to  me  on  the  occasion,  and  says,  he  will  publish 
my  letter  in  that  book  which  he  is  preparing,  in  opposition  to  the 
"  Essay  on  Truth,"  as  he  thinks  such  a  letter  will  do  me  honour. 
He  praises  the  candour  and  generosity  which,  he  says,  appear  in 
my  letter,  and  seems  to  be  satisfied,  that  I  wrote  my  book  with  a 
good  intention  ;  which  is  the  only  merit  he  allows  me,  at  least  he 
mentions  no  other.     He  blames  me  exceedingly  for  my  want  of 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  251 

moderation,  and  for  speaking,  as  I  have  done,  of  the  moral  influence 
of  opinions.  He  owns,  that  his  notions,  on  some  of  the  points  in 
which  he  differs  from  me,  are  exceedingly  unpopular,  and  likely  to 
continue  so,  and  says,  that  perhaps  no  two  persons,  professing 
Christianity,  ever  thought  more  differently,  than  he  and  I  do.  It  is 
a  loss  to  me,  he  seems  to  think,  that  I  have  never  been  acquainted 
with  such  persons,  as  himself,  and  his  friends,  in  England  :  to  this 
he  is  inclined  to  impute  the  improper  style  I  have  made  use  of  on 
some  subjects  ;  but  he  hopes  a  little  reflection,  and  a  candid  exami- 
nation of  what  he  is  to  write  against  me,  will  bring  me  to  a  better 
way  of  thinking  and  speaking.  His  motive  for  entering  the  lists 
with  me,  is  no  other,  he  says,  than  "  a  sincere  and  pretty  strong, 
"  though  perhaps  a  mistaken  regard  to  truth."  This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  his  letter,  as  I  understand  it.  There  are  indeed  some 
things  in  it,  which  I  do  not  distinctly  understand  ;  and  therefore,  I 
believe,  I  shall  not  at  present  make  any  reply.  He  does  not  tell 
me,  what  the  points  of  difference  between  us  are  :  but  I  find  from 
some  reports,  that  have  penetrated  even  to  this  remote  corner,  that 
he  has  taken  some  pains  to  let  it  be  known,  that  he  is  writing  an 
answer  to  my  book.  A  volume  of  his  "  Institutes  of  Religion" 
lately  fell  into  my  hand,  which  is  the  first  of  his  theological  works 
I  have  seen ;  and,  I  must  confess,  it  does  not  give  me  any  high 
opinion  of  him.  His  notions  of  Christianity  are  indeed  different 
from  mine ;  so  very  different,  that  I  know  not  whether  I  should 
think  it  necessary  or  proper  to  assume  the  title  of  a  christian,  if  I 
were  to  think  and  write  as  he  does.  When  one  proceeds  so  far,  as 
to  admit  some  parts  of  the  Gospel  History,  and  reject  others  ;  as  to 
suppose,  that  some  of  the  facts,  recorded  by  the  Evangelists  of  our 
Saviour,  may  reasonably  be  disbelieved,  and  others  doubted  ;  when 
one,  I  say,  has  proceeded  thus  far,  we  may  without  breach  of  charity 
conclude,  that  he  has  within  him  a  spirit  of  paradox  and  presump- 
tion, which  may  prompt  him  to  proceed  much  further.  Dr  Priest- 
ley's doctrines  seem  to  me  to  strike  at  the  very  vitals  of  Christian- 
ity. His  success  in  some  of  the  branches  of  natural  knowledge 
seems  to  have  intoxicated  him,  and  led  him  to  fancy,  that  he  was 
master  of  every  subject,  and  had  a  right  to  be  a  dictator  in  all :  for 
in  this  book  of  his,  there  is  often  a  boldness  of  assertion,  followed 
by  a  weakness  of  argument,  Avhich  no  man  of  parts  would  adven- 
ture upon,  who  did  not  think  that  his  word  would  be  taken  for  a  law. 


33?  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

I  am  impatient  for  the  appearance  of  his  book  against  me ;  as  I  can- 
not prepare  matters  for  a  new  edition  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  till 
I  see  what  he  has  to  say  against  it. 

"  I  have  not  seen  Dr  Gerard's  "  Essay  on  Genius."  I  know 
the  author  very  well,  for  I  studied  philosophy  under  him  ;  he  is  a 
man  of  great  worth,  learning,  and  good  sense.  His  "  Essay  on 
"  Taste"  (which  you  have  probably  seen)  was  well  received  ;  and 
I  am  confident,  there  will  be  many  good  things  in  this  new  work, 
notwithstanding  the  unpromising  and  hackneyed  title." 


In  the  course  of  the  year  1774,  Dr  Priestley  published  his 
promised  work,  by  the  title  of  "  An  Examination  of  Dr  Reid's  In- 
"  quiry  into  the  Human  Mind,  on  the  Principles  of  Common 
"  Sense  ;  of  Dr  Beattie's  Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Immutability  of 
"  Truth ;  and  of  Dr  Oswald's  Appeal  to  Common  Sense,  in  behalf 
"  of  Religion  ;"  in  which  he  has  violently  attacked  the  doctrines  of 
these  philosophers. 

To  each  of  them  Dr  Priestley  had  sent  a  letter,  containing  a 
sheet  of  his  introduction,  and  announcing  his  intention  of  animad- 
verting on  their  Avorks.  To  that  letter,  as  has  been  seen,  Dr 
Beattie  had  written  an  answer,  in  v/hich  he  had  stated  certain  posi- 
tions, which,  if  Dr  Priestley  attributed  to  him,  Dr  Beattie  insisted, 
were  no  where  to  be  found,  either  expressed,  or  implied,  in  any 
part  of  his  works.  This  letter,  Dr  Priestley  has  very  candidly  in- 
serted, in  an  appendix  to  his  "  Examination." 

Although  Dr  Pi'iestley  treats  these  three  eminent  authors  with 
great  contempt,  yet  he  speaks  of  Dr  Beattie  with  most  moderation. 
He  believes,  he  says,  that  Dr  Beattie  wrote  his  "  Essay  on  tlie 
"  Nature  and  Immutability  of  Truth,"  with  tiie  very  best  intention 
in  the  world.  And  that  it  was  nothing  but  hii  zeal  in  the  most 
excellent  cause,  that  of  religion,  which  betrayed  him  into  rash  cen- 
sures, and  into  a  mode  of  reasoning,  which  Dr  Priestley  cannot  help 
thinking  to  be  very  prejudicial  to  the  cause  of  that  very  truth, 
which  he  means  to  support,  and  favouring  that  very  sccjiiicisin^ 
which  he  imagined  he  was  overthrowing. 

I  believe  farther,  continues  Dr  Priestley,  and  I  most  sincerely 
rejoice  in  it,  that  Dr  Beattie's  "  Treatise"  has  done  a  great  deal  of 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  253 

good  to  the  cause  of  religion  ;  and  I  hope  it  will  still  continue  to 
do  so,  with  a  great  majority  of  those  who  are  most  in  danger  of 
being  seduced  by  the  sophistry  of  Mr  Hume,  and  other  modern, 
unbelievers  ;  I  mean  with  superficial  thinkers^  who  are  satisfied 
with  seeing  superficial  objections  answered,  in  a  lively,  though  a 
superficial  manner. 

But  there  is  danger,  he  adds,  lest  other  persons,  of  greater  pene- 
tration, finding,  that  Dr  Beattie  argues  on  fallacious  unpliilosophical 
principles,  should  reject  at  once,  and  without  farther  examination, 
all  that  he  has  built  upon  them.  With  respect  to  such  persons,  it 
may  be  of  importance  to  show,  Dr  Priestley  continues,  that  religion, 
though  assailed  from  so  many  quarters  as  it  has  been  of  late,  is 
under  no  necessity  of  taking  refuge  in  such  untenable  fortresses, 
as  Dr  Reid,  Dr  Beattie,  and  Dr  Oswald,  have  provided  for  her  ; 
but  that  she  may  safely  face  the  enemy  on  his  own  ground,  oppos- 
ing argument  to  argument,  and  silencing  sophistry  by  rational 
discussion.  And  as  he  believes  Dr  Beattie,  he  says,  to  be  a  man 
of  candour,  he  douljts  not,  but  he  will  himself  take  in  good  part  his 
free  animadversions.  If  truth  be  really  our  object,  continues  Dr 
Priestley,  as  it  is  in  the  titles  of  our  books,  and  we  be  free  from  any 
improper  bias,  we  shall  rejoice  in  the  detection  of  error,  though  it 
should  appear  to  have  sheltered  itself  under  our  own  roofs.  I  am 
very  serious,  he  goes  on,  when  I  add,  that  such  a  degree  of  candour 
and  impartiality  may  be  more  especially  expected  of  Christians^ 
and,  more  especially  still,  of  those  who  stand  forth  as  champions 
in  the  cause  of  Christianity,  which  is  at  the  same  time  the  cause  of 
the  most  important  truth,  and  of  the  most  generous  and  distin- 
guished virtue.* 

The  declaration  with  which  Dr  Priestley  prefaces  his  Examina- 
tion of  tlie  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  has,  no  doubt,  an  appearance  of 
candour  and  moderation,  which,  however,  does  not  very  well  agree 
with  the  manner  in  which  he  has  conducted  his  attack.  Indeed,  no 
two  writers  were  ever  more  opposite  to  each  other  in  their  modes 
of  thinking  on  the  most  interesting  subjects.  Dr  Priestley  was  an 
avowed  Socinian  ;  a  staunch  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  necessity  ; 
and,  though  he  admitted  the  great  pillar  of  Christianity,  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  yet  he  subscribed  to  the  doctrine  of  material- 

*  Priestley's  Remarks  on  Dr  Beattie's  Essay,  p.  115. 


354  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTlE. 

ism.*  In  all  this,  and  in  many  other  particulars,  the  principles  of 
Dr  Beattie  were  the  very  reverse.  The  attack  of  Dr  Priestley, 
however,  gave  him  no  concern.  He  appears,  indeed,  by  his  corres- 
pondence with  his  friends,  to  have  formed,  at  first,  the  resolution  of 
replying  to  it ;  and  he  speaks  as  if  he  had  already  prepared  his 
materials,  and  of  being  altogether  in  such  a  state  of  forwardness, 
as  to  be  fully  ready  for  the  task.  On  farther  consideration,  how- 
ever, he  abandoned  the  idea,  and  he  no  doubt  judged  wisely.  For, 
while  Dr  Priestley's  "  Examination"  is  now  never  heard  of,  the 
"  Essay  on  Truth"  remains  a  classical  work,  of  the  highest  repu- 
tation and  authority. 


In  the  following  letter  to  one  of  his  young  friends,  Dr  Beattie 
speaks  of  the  style  of  Addison,  a  topic  on  which  he  delighted  to 
enlarge.  Of  the  prose  of  that  inimitable  writer,  he  couid  not,  in- 
deed, speak  too  highly  :  but  of  his  poetry,  Dr  Beattie's  judgment 
seems  to  be  too  severe.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  most  readers, 
I  believe,  will  think  his  praise  of  the  Comedy  of"  The  Drummer," 
not  a  little  extravagant. 

In  this  letter,  Dr  Beattie  mentions  the  story,  which  Pope  and 
his  friends  certainly  believed,  that  the  first  book  of  the  "  Iliad"  was 
either  translated  by  Addison  himself  in  opposition  to  Pope,  or  if  by 
Tickell,  under  Addison's  direction.  But  of  this  no  clear  proof  has 
ever  been  produced,  nor  any  thing  else  than  some  slight  and  vague 
suspicions,  of  no  authority.  The  learned  Dr  Hurd,  the  present 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  in  his  Life  of  Warburton,  Bishop  of  Glou- 
cester, has  given  an  acute  and  ingenious  dissertation  on  the  subject, 
in  which  he  strongly  vindicates  Addison  from  the  charge  brought 
ao-ainst  him  by  Pope  and  his  friends,  and  shows,  with  every  ap- 
pearance of  probability,  that  the  translation  was  Tickeli's  own,  and 
most  likely  begun  by  him  before  he  knew  any  thing  of  Pope's  un- 
dertaking. Dr  Hurd  adds  some  curious  conjectures  as  to  the 
cause  of  Pope's  entertaining  the  suspicion,  respecting  this  transla- 
tion by  Tickell,  of  wliich  his  Lords. dp  has  in  his  library  a  printed 
ropy,  wherein  are  entered  many  criticisms  and  remarks  in  Pope's 

•  Prefiice  to  "  Disqulsitiong  relating  to  matter  and  spirit,"  p.  xlii. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  255 

owh  hand  j  and  from  two  of  these,  compared  together,  the  Bishop 
thinks  the  true  ground  of  Pope's  suspicion  may,  witii  great  plausi- 
bility, be  collected.  He  farther  says,  that  on  mentioning  these 
circumstances  to  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  that  prelate  owned 
himself  so  mvich  satisfied,  that  he  declared,  if  he  lived  to  publish  a 
new  edition  of  the  woi'ks  of  Pope,  he  should  omit  the  charge  against 
Addison.* 

In  this  letter  to  Mr  Cameron,  Dr  Beattie,  who  could  know 
nothing  of  this  dissertation  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester's,  because 
it  was  not  printed  till  long  afterwards,  agrees  exactly  in  opinion 
with  the  learned  prelate,  as  to  the  versification  of  that  first  book  of 
the  "  Iliad"  being  unworthy  of  Addison ;  and  if  Dr  Beattie  ever 
saw  the  dissertation,  he  must  have  rejoiced  to  find  the  memory  of 
his  favourite  author  so  successfully  vindicated,  against  this  malig- 
nant reproach.  The  unfortunate  quarrel  between  Pope  and  Addi- 
son, which  gave  occasion  to  one  of  the  severest  and  most  elo- 
quent satires  in  the  whole  range  of  English  poetry,t  is  well 
known. 

LETTER  CIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  WILLIAM  CAMERON. ^: 

Aberdeen,  22d  September,  1774. 

"  YOUR  judgment  of  Addison  is  quite  right.  His  prose  is 
most  elegant,  and  deserves  to  be  carefully  studied  for  the  style,  as 
well  as  for  the  matter.     But  his  poetry  is  in  general  cold,  and  pro- 

•  Life  of  Bishop  Warburton,  prefixed  to  the  edition  of  his  works  in 
quarto,  p.  56 — 63. 

t  Pope's  Works,  Vol.  IV.  p.  17.     Prologue  to  the  Satires,  1.  193. 

\  Minister  of  the  parish  of  Kirk-Newton,  in  the  county  of  West-Lothian. 
Having  studied  at  Marischal-coUeg-e,  Aberdeen,  he  had  been  a  pupil  of  Dr 
Beattie's,  who  ever  after  entertained  for  him  much  esteem,  as  Mr  Cameron, 
in  return,  regarded  Dr  Beattie  witli  sentiments  of  the  warmest  enthusiasm. 
Mr  Cameron  had  early  discovered  a  considerable  degree  of  poetical  genius, 
of  which  he  has  given  no  unfavourable  specimen,  in  a  small  collection  of 
poems,  printed  some  years  ago.  The  instructions  to  young  students,  in  this 
letter,  are  excellent. 


356  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

saic,  and  inharmonious.  Yet  his  tragedy  of  "  Cato"  -has  great 
merit ;  and  his  comedy  of  "  The  Drummer"  is,  in  my  opinion, 
one  of  the  best  dramatic  pieces  in  our  language.  He  attempted  a 
translation  of  Homer,  and  actually  published  the  first  book  of  it, 
under  Tickell's  name,  in  opposition  to  Pope's ;  but  the  performance 
is  altogether  unworthy  of  Addison,  and  totally  destitute  of  the  fire, 
and  energy,  and  harmony  of  Homer. 

"  Your  studies  are  in  an  excellent  train.  Read  the  classics  day 
and  night,  till  you  make  yourself  master  of  them.  Exercise  your- 
self in  frequent  compositions  in  English  prose.  Write  your 
thoughts  on  every  subject,  and  carefully  keep  what  you  write. 
Attend  to  the  phraseology  of  the  best  English  writers,  with  a  view 
to  correct  and  improve  your  English  style.  We  Scotsmen  find  it 
a  very  difficult  matter  to  get  rid  of  the  barbarisms  of  our  native 
dialect.'* 


LETTER  cm. 

MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Hill-Street,  January  17th,  1775. 

"  I  APPROVE  greatly  of  what  you  have  said  of  Lord  Ches- 
terfield's letters ;  truth,  so  elegantly  and  concisely  expressed,  will 
make  an  impression  on  the  head  and  heart,  and  efface  the  false 
principles  those  letters  had  introduced  into  the  minds  of  the 
unwary. 

"  Lord  Chesterfield  was  an  example  of  the  justice  of  your  asser- 
tion, that  if  men  believed  one  another  to  be  knaves  and  hypocrites, 
politeness  of  language  and  attitude,  instead  of  being  graceful, 
would  appear  as  ridiculous  as  the  chattering  of  a  parrot,  or  the 
grinning  of  a  monkey.  For  the  moment  we  are  pleased  with  the 
imitation  of  sounds  and  gesture  in  the  parrot  or  the  ape,  but  that 
pleasure  not  arising  from  apprehension  of  some  sentiment,  ex- 
pressed by  voice  or  action,  though  we  admire  the  art  which  effects 
the  imitation,  sympathies  and  aff^ections  are  quite  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Thus,  all  the  world  admired  the  politeness  of  Lord  Chester- 
field, and  acknowledged  the  elegance  of  his  civilities  j  they  felt,  at 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  2s7 

the  tinie,  a  soothing  sweetness  in  his  conversation  ;  but  all  this 
was  perfectly  void  of  any  mutual  endearment,  and  they  parted  on 
the  same  terms  as  the  audience  and  a  musician ;  the  fir^t  admiring 
the  art  which  for  a  moment  excited  sentiment,  unfelt  by  the  artist ; 
the  other  pleased  with  the  impression  he  had  made  by  the  ener- 
gies of  his  peculiar  skill. 

"  I  perfectly  agree  with  you,  that  Dr  Hawkesworth  said  many 
rash  things  in  his  works.  I  believe  he  was  a  good  Christian,  but 
not  having  had  a  literary  education,  he  was  not  systematical ;  the 
human  mind  is  liable  to  strange  starts,  if  it  has  not  been  in  early 
and  good  training.  If  voyages  were  well  written,  they  would 
admirably  evince  the  regular  government  and  superintendence  of 
providence,  but  ignorance,  rashness,  and  a  love  of  novelty,  and  the 
marvellous,  makes  them  operate  in  a  different  direction. 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  rejoice  to  hear  the  Dutchess  of  Portland 
is  now  well.  It  has  pleased  God  to  preserve  still  to  us  an  example 
to  the  great,  and  a  protector  of  the  unfortunate,  and  the  most  amia- 
ble and  valuable  of  friends.  I  had  the  happiness  of  passing  yester- 
day evening  with  her,  in  her  private  dressing-room,  in  which  I 
passed  many  of  those  youthful  hours,  which  dance  away  with 
down  upon  their  feet ;  but  never  did  their  smoothest  pace,  and 
gayest  measure,  give  me  such  heart-felt  delight,  as  last  night's  re- 
flection on  the  many  mercies  that  had  led  us  both  such  a  series  of 
years,  through  a  period  of  innocence,  to  the  present  time,  so  that 
we  can  look  back  with  pleasure,  and  forward  with  hope,  and  while 
we  remain  here,  by  mercies  past,  may  indulge  a  wish  to  cheer 
each  other  through  the  declining  path  of  life." 


LETTER  CIV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  PORTEUS. 

Aberdeen,  4th  March,  1775. 

"  I  HAVE  just  finished  a  hasty  perusal  of  Dr  Johnson's 
journey.  It  contains  many  things  woi'thy  of  the  author,  and  is,  on 
the  whole,  very  entertaining.     His  account  of  "  the  Isles"  is,  I 

2     K 


k 


25g  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

dare  say,  very  just ;  I  never  was  there,  and  therefore  can  say 
nothing  of  them,  from  my  own  knowledge.  His  accounts  of  soinc 
facts,  relatirig  to  other  parts  of  Scotland,  are  not  unexceptionable. 
Either  he  must  have  been  misinformed,  or  he  must  have  misun- 
derstood his  informer,  in  regard  to  several  of  his  remarks  on  the 
improvement  of  the  country.  I  am  surprised  at  one  of  his  mis- 
takes, which  leads  him  once  or  twice  into  perplexity,  and  false 
conjecture  : — he  seems  not  to  have  known,  that,  in  the  common 
language  of  Scotland,  Irish  and  Earse  are  both  used  to  denote  the 
speech  of  the  Scots  Highlanders;  and  are  as  much  synonymous  (at 
least  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom,)  as  Scotch  and  Scottish.  Irish 
is  generally  thought  the  genteeler  appellation,  and  Earse  the  vulgar 
and  colloquial.  His  remarks  on  the  trees  of  Scotland,  must  greatly 
surprise  a  native.  In  some  of  our  provinces,  trees  cannot  be  reared 
by  any  method  of  cultivation  we  have  yet  discovered ;  in  some, 
where  trees  flourish  extremely  well,  they  are  not  much  cultivated, 
because  they  are  not  necessary  :  but  in  others,  we  have  store  of 
wood,  and  forests  of  great  extent,  and  of  great  antiquity.  I  am 
sorry  to  see  in  Johnson  some  asperities,  that  seem  to  be  the  effect 
of  national  prejudice.  If  he  thinks  hiinself  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  character  of  the  Scots  as  a  nation,  he  is  greatly  mistaken. 
The  Scots  have  virtues,  and  the  Scots  have  faults,  of  which  he 
seems  to  have  had  no  particular  information.  I  am  one  of  those 
who  wish  to  see  the  English  spirit  and  English  manners  prevail 
over  the  whole  island  :  for  I  think  the  English  have  a  generosity 
and  openness  of  nature,  which  many  of  us  want.  But  we  are  not 
all,  without  exception,  a  nation  of  cheats  and  liars,  as  Johnson 
seems  willing  to  believe,  and  to  represent  us.  Of  the  better  sort  of 
our  people,  the  character  is  just  the  reverse.  I  admire  Johnson's 
genius;  I  esteem  him  for  his  virtues;  I  shall  ever  cherish  a  grate- 
ful remembrance  of  the  civilities  I  have  received  from  him:  I  have 
often,  in  this  covmtry,  exerted  myself  in  defence  botii  of  his  charac- 
ter and  writings:  but  thdre  ai'e  in  this  book  several  things  which  I 
cannot  defend.  His  unbelief,  in  regard  to  Ossian,  I  am  not  sur- 
prised at;  but  I  wonder  greatly  at  his  credulity  in  regard  to  the 
second-sight.  I  cannot  imagine,  on  what  grounds  he  could  say. 
that,  in  the  miiversities  of  Scotland,  every  master  of  arts  may  be  a 
doctor  when  he  pleases.  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing,  and  I  have 
been  connected  with  our  universities,  ever  since  I  was  a  bov.    Our 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  259 

method  of  giving  doctors'  degrees  I  do  not  approve  of ;  but  we 
proceed  on  a  principle  quite  different  from  what  Dr  Johnson 
mentions." 


LETTER  CV. 


OR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Gatton-park,  near  Ryegate,  27th  June,  1775. 

"  I  WOULD  have  written  to  you  long  ago,  if  I  had  had  time 
to  write  a  long  letter  ;  but  for  six  or  seven  weeks  after  I  came  to 
town,  I  was  so  constantly  engaged  with  company,  that  I  had  no  lei- 
sure at  all.  The  greatest  part  of  that  time,  I  lodged  with  my  friend 
Dr  Porteus,  at  Lambeth,  who  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to  amuse 
and  entertain  me.  His  conversation  is  cheerful,  and  occasionally 
even  sportive  :  He  is  warm  and  zealous  as  a  friend,  kind,  gentle, 
and  polite  as  a  companion.  He  is  now  gone  to  reside  at  one  of  his 
livings  in  the  comitry,  whither  he  earnestly  wished  us  to  follow 
him;  but  I  am  afraid  we  shall  see  him  no  more  this  summer.  We 
are  now  with  Sir  William  Mayne,  at  one  of  the  finest  places  I  have 
ever  seen ;  a  place  adorned  with  every  charm  that  hill  and  dale, 
lawn  and  grove,  wood  and  water,  can  bestow,  and  which  wants  no- 
thing but  cataracts,  precipices,  barren  mountains,  and  a  view  of  the 
sea,  to  make  it  super-eminent  in  every  rural  beauty.  But  though 
we  have  not  the  sea,  we  have  a  boundless  prospect  of  a  rich  coun- 
try, extending  upwards  of  thirty  miles.  Here  I  have  made  it  my 
business  to  be  as  idle  as  possible,  in  order  to  indemnify  myself  for 
the  fatigue  and  bustle  of  London  :  and  since  I  came  hither,  my 
health  has  improved  greatly.  Mrs  Beattie  is  also  much  better. 
But  we  must  soon  think  of  returning  to  the  north,  as  we  wish  to  be 
in  Aberdeen  early  in  August,  and  have  many  visits  to  make  by  the 
way. 

*'  During  my  stay  in  London,  I  visited  most  of  my  old  friends, 
and  made  several  new  acquisitions,  particularly  among  the  bishops 
and  clergy,  who  all  shewed  me  a  degree  of  attention,  far  superior 
to  my  deservings.  I  have  been  at  court  too,  where  the  King  (who 
knew  me  at  first  sight)  was  pleased  to  speak  to  me  very  graciously.. 


260  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

asking  me  several  questions  about  my  studies,  and  observing,  that 
I  looked  much  better  than  when  he  saw  me  last. 

*'  You  will  no  doubt  be  curious  to  hear  something  of  Priestley. 
I  have  not  yet  met  with,  nor  heard  of,  one  single  person,  who  does 
not  blame  his  book  against  Dr  Reid  and  me.  Even  those  of  his 
admirers,  who  think  favourably  of  his  arguments,  condemn  the 
spirit  of  that  performance.  But  the  book  has  attracted  very  little 
notice,  and  would  seem  at  present  to  be  in  a  fair  way  of  being  spee- 
dily forgotten,  notwithstanding  the  pains  taken  by  its  author  to  puff 
it  away  in  newspapers.  My  inclination  was  (as  I  told  you)  to  pub- 
lish a  pamphlet  in  direct  answer  to  it.  But  I  now  begin  to  think, 
that  will  be  unnecessary,  and  will  only  give  scope  to  further  contro- 
versy, Dr  Priestley  having  already  declared,  that  he  will  answer 
whatever  I  may  publish  in  my  own  vindication  ;  and  being  a  man 
who  loves  bustle  and  book-making,  he  wishes  above  all  things  that 
I  should  give  him  a  pretext  for  continuing  the  dispute.  To  silence 
him  by  force  of  argument,  is,  I  know,  impossible.  He  would  still 
fall  upon  new  modes  of  misrepresentation,  and  would  still  find  it  an 
easy  matter  to  make  a  book,  which  should  seem  plausible  to  his 
implicit  admirers,  or  to  those  who  had  entered  but  slightly  into  the 
subject.  All  my  friends  here  have  been  urging  me  not  to  answer 
him  ;  and  have  told  me,  what  I  know  is  true,  that  his  work  cannot 
possibly  do  me  any  harm,  that  it  has  been  little  read,  and  will  soon 
be  forgotten  ;  that  he  is  a  man  of  that  sort,  that  it  is  even  credita- 
ble (on  moral  and  religious  subjects  at  least)  to  have  him  for  an 
adversary ;  and  that  I  cannot  gratify  him  more,  than  by  writing 
against  him.  All  this,  I  say,  I  know  to  be  true  ;  yet  I  am  not  en- 
tirely of  their  opinion,  who  think  that  I  ought  to  neglect  him  alto- 
gether. I  therefore  propose  to  take  a  middle  course  :  and,  with- 
out making  any  formal  answer  to  Dr  Priestley,  to  write  something 
by  way  o{ general  answer  to  those  objections  to  my  doctrine  that  have 
appeared  hitherto  in  pamphlets  or  newspapers  :  observing,  at  the 
same  time,  that  1  do  not  think  it  worth  while  to  reply  to  the  abuse 
that  has  been  thrown  out  against  me,  or  to  those  misrejiresentationa 
of  my  meanings  which  some  authors,  particularly  Dr  Priestley, 
have  thought  proper  to  obtrude  upon  the  world." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  261 


LETTER  CVI. 


DR  REATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  PORTEU3. 

St  James's  Square,  July  9th,  1775. 

"  DR  MAJENDIE  has  just  returned  to  me  the  letter  I  wrote, 
declinmg  the  offer  of  the  Church-living.  I  send  it  to  you  enclosed. 
He  gave  it  to  the  Queen,  who  condescended  to  read  it  over  from 
beginning  to  end,  and  was  then  pleased  to  say,  "  That  it  was  a  very 
"  sensible  letter,  and  did  me  much  honour."  I  was  anxious,  that 
my  reasons  for  choosing  to  continue  a  layman,  should  be  known  at 
court ;  as  a  report  has  been  circulating,  that  I  declined  church- 
preferment  in  England,  because  I  could  not  reconcile  myself  to 
the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  Church : — a  report,  which  those 
who  know  me  best  know  to  be  ill-founded.  I  admire  the  Church 
of  England,  on  many  accounts.  I  think  I  could,  with  a  clear  con- 
science, live  and  die  a  member,  or  even  a  minister  of  it.  Its  doc- 
trines seem  to  me  to  be  those  of  Christianity  :  its  rites  and  cere- 
monies I  greatly  approve  of,  and  the  constitution  of  its  hierarchy 
is  equally  favourable  to  the  interests  of  religion,  and  the  civil  go- 
vernment of  this  country." 


LETTER  CVIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  17th  August,  1773. 

"  AFTER  passing  a  few  days  with  our  friends  at  Edinburgh, 
we  proceeded  northwards,  and  arrived  here  in  safety  about  ten  days 
ago.  The  last  stage  of  our  journey  was  distinguished  by  an  accident, 
which,  if  Providence  had  not  interposed,  would  have  made  it  the 
last  stage  of  our  life.  The  iron  axle  of  the  chaise  snapt  suddenly 
in  two,  and  the  carriage  was  thrown  upon  its  side,  within  two  feet 


262  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

of  the  blink  of  a  precipice,  thirty  yards  deep.  Here  Ave  hiy  lor  a 
few  moments,  with  the  horses  flouncing  about  us,  till  at  last,  partly 
by  the  harness  giving  way,  and  partly  by  the  activity  of  the  posti- 
lion, they  vi'ere  disengaged  from  the  carriage,  and  went  off  at  full 
speed.  An  English  gentleman,  on  horseback,  was  then  in  sight  be- 
hind us,  who  immediately  galloped  up,  and  in  the  most  humane 
manner  enquired,  whether  he  could  be  of  any  service  ;  and,  having 
seen  us  fairly  rescued  from  our  shattered  vehicle,  remounted  his 
horse,  galloped  back  to  the  inn,  and  soon  returned  wdth  another 
chaise. 

"  I  have  begun  my  transcribing,  which,  even  if  I  had  nothing 
to  do  in  the  way  of  correction,  would  take  up  some  hours  of  every 
day,  for  months  to  come.  I  have  made  many  attempts  at  a  pre- 
face to  my  quarto  volume  ;  but  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  please 
myself.  It  seems  to  me,  that  the  best  way  to  obviate  all  objections, 
and  to  prevent  mistakes,  in  regard  to  this  publication,  is  to  give  a 
short  and  honest  account  of  the  plain  matter  of  fact.  This  I  have 
endeavoured  to  do  in  the  inclosed  paper,  with  which,  if  you  approve 
of  it,  I  intend  to  begin  my  preface.  The  sequel  will  contain  some 
account  of  the  additional  essays,  and  of  the  improvements  in  this 
edition  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth." 

"  To  make  some  amends  for  the  terrifying  incident,  recorded 
in  the  first  part  of  this  letter,  I  shall  now  mention  a  pleasing  one, 
which  was  told  me  by  a  gentleman  of  this  country,  a  friend  of  mine, 
who  lately  went  to  Stratford  upon  Avon,  to  pay  his  duty  at  the 
shrine  of  the  man  of  Warwickshire.  You  certainly  know,  that  Gar- 
rick  erected  a  statue  of  Shakespeare,  in  a  niche  in  the  wall  of  the 
town-house,  facing  the  street.  As  my  friend  was  contemplating 
this  statue,  he  saw,  perched  on  one  of  the  hands,  a  dove,  which,  at 
first  he  took  for  an  emblem,  as  the  creature  was  quite  motionless  ; 
but  which,  in  a  little  time,  began  to  move,  and  scramble  upwards, 
till  it  reached  the  bosom  of  the  statue,  in  which,  as  in  its  home,  it 
nestled,  Avith  great  appearance  of  satisfaction.  Charles  Boyd,  Lord 
ErroU's  brother,  has,  I  hear,  composed  a  little  poem  on  the  subject, 
of  which  I  shall  send  you  a  copy,  as  soon  as  I  have  seen  the  author. 
If  Mr  Garrick  comes  in  your  way,  before  you  leave  England,  I  am 
sure  he  will  be  pleased  with  this  little  narrative. 

"  The  day  after  I  returned  home,  I  visited  the  little  man,  whose 
magnanimity  you  are  pleased  to  reward,  in  so  generous  a  manner. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  263 

I  found  him  in  great  want  of  clothes,  and  very  infirm  ;  for  he  is 
now  of  a  great  age.  I  told  him  that  a  lady  in  England  had  desired 
me  to  give  him  some  money.  This  very  interesting  news  he  re- 
ceived with  much  composure,  but  implored,  with  great  fervour,  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  upon  his  benefactress.  I  have  not  seen  him 
since  that  time.  Since  the  days  of  chivalry,  I  do  not  suppose  that 
any  lady  has  had  so  complete  a  dwarf,  as  you,  madam,  have  now  at 
your  service  ;  for  I  cannot  think  that  he  is  full  three  feet  high." 


LETTER  CVIIL 


MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Tunbridge-wells,  September  3d,  1775. 

''  IT  was  not  without  trembling  and  horror,  I  read  the  ac- 
count of  your  overturn,  and  the  dangerous  circumstances  with 
which  it  was  attended.  The  traveller,  who  is  obliged  to  traverse  a 
pathless  wilderness,  or  in  a  frail  boat  to  cross  the  angry  ocean,  de- 
voutly prays  to  the  Omnipotent,  to  assist  and  preserve  him  ;  the 
occasion  awakens  his  fears,  and  animates  his  devotion  ;  but  it  is 
only  from  experience  and  reflection  we  are  taught  to  consider  every 
day,  which  passes  in  safety,  and  closes  in  peace,  as  a  mercy.  If  I 
had  known  when  you  had  set  out  from  Denton,  how  near  to  a  pre- 
cipice you  would  have  been  thrown,  I  should  more  earnestly  have 
prayed  for  your  preservation  through  the  journey  ;  but  the  inci- 
dent at  once  makes  me  sensible,  that  our  safety  depends,  not  on  the 
road,  but  the  hand  that  upholds  and  guides  us. 

"  I  left  Denton  the  first  day  of  August.  On  the  second,  by 
noon,  I  reached  the  episcopal  palace  of  our  friend,  the  Archbishop 
of  York,*  at  Bishop's  Thorpe.  I  had  before  visited  him  at  his 
family-seat  at  Brodsworth.  The  man,  who  has  a  character  of  his- 
own,  is  little  changed  by  varying  his  situation  ;  I  can  only  say,  that 
at  his  family-seat,  I  found  him  the  most  of  a  prelate  of  any  gentle- 
man, and  at  his  palace,  the  most  of  a  gentleman  I  had  ever  seen, 

*  Honourable  Dr  Kay  Dnimmoncl,  at  that  time  Archbishop  of  York. 


264  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Native  dignity  is  the  best  ground-work  of  assumed  and  special  dig^ 
nity.  We  talked  a  great  deal  of  you  ;  the  subject  was  copious  and 
pleasant.  We  considered  you,  as  a  poet,  with  admiration  ;  as  a 
philosopher,  with  respect ;  as  a  Christian,  with  veneration  ;  and  as 
a  IViend,  with  affection.  His  Grace's  health  is  not  quite  what  we 
couid  wish.  I  could  indulge  myself  in  no  longer  than  one  day's 
delay  at  Bishop's  Thorpe.  I  then  made  the  best  of  my  way  to  Lon- 
don, and  after  a  very  short  stay  there,  came  to  Tunbridge.  I  have  the 
happiness  of  having  Mrs  Carter  in  my  house,  and  Mrs  Vesey  is  not 
at  a  quarter  of  a  mile's  distance  ;  thus,  though  I  live  secluded  from 
the  general  world,  I  have  the  society  of  those  I  love  best.  I  pro- 
pose to  stay  here  about  three  weeks,  then  I  return  to  London,  to 
prepare  for  my  expedition  to  the  south  of  France.  I  have  written 
to  a  gentleman  at  Montauban  to  endeavour  to  get  for  me  a  large 
house,  in  any  part  of  that  town.  I  am  assured  that  the  climate  of 
Montauban  is  very  delightful ;  the  air  is  dry,  but  not  piercing,  as 
at  Montpelier.  There  is  but  little  society,  but  there  are  some  pro- 
vincial noblesRc^  amongst  whom  I  hope  to  find  some  who  are  more 
in  the  ton  of  Louis  XIV's  court,  than  I  should  at  Versailles.  It  is 
long  before  the  polished  manners  of  a  court,  arrive  at  the  distant 
regions  of  a  great  country  j  but  when  there,  they  acquire  a  per- 
manent establishment.  At  Paris,  the  minister,  or  the  favourite  of 
the  day,  is  taken  for  the  model,  and  there  is  a  perpetual  change  of 
manners.  I  think  with  some  pleasure  of  escaping  the  gloom  of  our 
winter,  and  the  bustle  of  London,  and  passing  my  time  in  the  bless- 
ings of  cheerful  tranquillity,  and  soft  sunshine  ;  at  the  same  time, 
there  is  something  painful  in  removing  so  far  from  one's  dearest 
friends. 

"  I  wish  much  to  see  the  verses  on  the  pretty  incident  of  the 
dove's  alighting  on  Shakespeare's  statue.  Of  whatever  nature  and 
disposition  the  animal  had  been,  he  might  have  been  presented  as 
a  symbol  of  Shakespeare.  The  gravity  and  deep  thought  of  the  bird 
of  wisdom ;  the  sublime  flight  of  the  eagle  to  the  starry  regions, 
and  the  throne  of  Jove;  the  pensive  song  of  the  nightingale,  when 
she  shuns  the  noise  of  folly,  and  sooths  the  midnight  visionary ; 
the  pert  jack-daw,  that  faithfully  repeats  the  chit-chat  of  the  market 
or  the  shop  ;  the  sky-lark,  that,  soaring,  seems  to  sing  to  the  deni- 
zens of  the  air,  and  set  her  music  to  the  tone  of  beings  of  another 
region, — would  all  assort  with  the  genius  of  universal  Shakespeare." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  265 


LETTER  CIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 


Aberdeen,  17th  September,  1773. 

"  YOUR  reflections  on  the  little  disaster,  with  which  our 
journey  concluded,  exactly  coincide  with  mine.  I  agree  with 
Hawkesworth,  that  the  peril  and  the  deliverance  are  equally  provi- 
dential ;  and  I  wonder  he  did  not  see  that  both  the  one  and  other 
may  be  productive  of  the  very  best  effects.  These  little  accidents 
and  trials  are  necessary  to  put  us  in  mind  of  that  superintending 
goodness,  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  every  breath  we  draw,  and 
of  which,  in  the  hour  of  tranquillity,  many  of  us  are  too  apt  to  be 
forgetful.  But  you,  madam,  forget  nothing  which  a  Christian 
ought  to  remember;  and  therefore  I  hope  and  pray  that  Providence 
may  defend  you  from  every  alarm.  By  the  way,  there  are  several 
things,  besides  that  preface  to  which  I  just  now  referred,  in  the 
writings  of  Hawkesworth,  that  shew  an  unaccountable  perplexity  of 
mind  in  regard  to  some  of  the  principles  of  natural  religion.  I 
observed,  in  his  conversation,  that  he  took  a  pleasure  in  ruminating 
upon  riddles,  and  puzzling  questions,  and  calculations  ;  and  he 
seems  to  have  carried  something  of  the  same  temper  into  his  moral 
and  theological  researches.  His  "  Almoran  and  Hamet"  is  a 
strange  confused  narrative,  and  leaves  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader 
some  disagreeable  impressions  in  regard  to  the  ways  of  providence ; 
and  from  the  theory  of  /litij,  which  he  has  given  us  somewhere  in 
the  "  Adventurer,"  one  would  suspect  that  he  was  no  enemy  to 
the  philosophy  of  Hobbes.  However,  I  am  disposed  to  impute 
all  this  rather  to  a  vague  way  of  thinking,  than  to  any  perversity  of 
heart  or  understanding.  Only  I  wish,  that  in  his  last  work  he  had 
been  more  ambitious  to  tell  the  plain  truth,  than  to  deliver  to  the 
woiid  a  wonderful  story.  I  coniess,  that  from  the  first  I  was  in- 
clined to  consider  his  vile  portrait  of  the  manners  of  Otaheite,  as 
in  part  fictitious ;  and  I  am  now  assured,  upon  the  very  best  au- 
thority, that  Dr  Solander  disavows  some  of  those  narrations,  or  at 
least  declares  them  to  be  grossly  misrepresented.     There  is,  in 


266  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

almost  all  the  late  books  of  travels  I  have  seen,  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  author  to  recommend  licentious  theories.  I  would  not 
object  to  the  truth  of  any  fact,  that  is  warranted  by  the  testimony 
of  competent  witnesses.  But  how  few  of  our  travellers  ai"e  com- 
petent judges  of  the  facts  they  relate  !  How  few  of  them  know  any 
thing  accurately,  of  the  language  of  those  nations,  whose  laws, 
religion,  and  moral  sentiments,  they  pretend  to  describe  I  And  how 
few  of  them  are  free  from  that  inordinate  love  of  the  marvellous, 
which  stimulates  equally  the  vanity  of  the  writer,  and  the  curiosity 
of  the  reader.  Suppose  a  Japanese  crew  to  arrive  in  England,  take 
in  wood  and  water,  exchange  a  few  commodities ;  and,  after  a  stay 
of  three  months,  to  set  sail  for  their  own  country,  and  there  set 
forth  a  history  of  the  English  government,  religion,  and  manners :  it 
is,  I  think,  highly  probable,  that,  for  one  truth,  they  would  deliver 
a  score  of  falsehoods.  But  Europeans,  it  will  be  said,  have  more 
sagacity,  and  know  more  of  mankind.  Be  it  so :  but  this  advan- 
tage is  not  without  inconveniencies,  sufficient  perhaps  to  counter- 
balance it.  When  a  European  arrives  in  any  remote  part  of  the 
globe,  the  natives,  if  they  know  any  thing  of  his  country,  will  be  apt 
to  form  no  favourable  opinion  of  his  intentions,  with  regard  to  their 
liberties;  if  they  know  nothing  of  him,  they  will  yet  keep  aloof,  on 
account  of  his  strange  language,  complexion,  and  accoutrements. 
In  either  case  he  has  little  chance  of  understanding  their  laws, 
manners,  and  principles  of  action,  except  by  a  long  residence  in  the 
country,  which  would  not  suit  the  views  of  one  traveller  in  five  thou- 
sand. He  therefore  picks  up  a  few  strange  plants  and  animals,  which 
he  may  do  with  little  trouble  or  danger ;  and,  at  his  return  to  Europe, 
is  welcomed  by  the  literati,  as  a  philosophic  traveller  of  most  accu- 
rate observation,  and  unquestionable  veracity.  He  describes,  per- 
haps with  tolerable  exactness,  the  soils,  plants,  and  other  irrational 
curiosities  of  the  new  country,  M'hich  procures  credit  to  what  he 
has  to  say  of  the  people  ;  though  his  accuracy  in  describing  the 
material  phenomena,  is  no  proof  of  his  capacity  to  explain  the 
moral.  One  can  easily  dig  to  the  root  of  a  plant,  but  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  peneti'ate  the  motive  of  an  action  ;  and  till  the  motive  of  an 
action  be  known,  we  are  no  competent  judges  of  its  morality,  and 
in  many  cases  the  motive  of  an  action  is  not  to  be  known  without  a 
inost  intimate  knowledge  of  the  language  and  manners  of  the  agent. 
Our  traveller  then  delivers  a  few  focts  of  the  moral  kind,  which 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  267 

pei'haps  he  does  not  understand,  and  from  them  draws  some  in- 
ferences suitable  to  the  taste  of  the  times,  or  to  a  favourite  hypo- 
thesis. He  tells  us  of  a  Californian,  who  sold  his  bed  in  a  morning, 
and  came  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to  beg  it  back  at  night ;  whence,  he 
very  wisely  infers,  that  the  poor  Californiuns  are  hardly  one  degree 
above  the  brutes  in  understanding,  for  that  they  have  neither  fore- 
sight nor  memory  sufficient  to  direct  their  conduct  on  the  most 
common  occasions  of  life.  In  a  word,  they  are  quite  a  different 
species  of  animal  from  the  European ;  and  it  is  a  gross  mistake  to 
think,  that  all  mankind  are  descended  from  die  same  first  parents. 
But  one  needs  not  go  so  far  as  to  California,  in  quest  of  men  who 
sacrifice  a  future  good  to  a  present  gratification.  In  the  metro- 
polis of  Great  Britain  one  may  meet  with  many  reputed  Christians, 
who  would  act  the  same  part,  for  the  pleasure  of  carousing  half  a 
day  in  a  gin-shop.  Again,  to  illustrate  the  same  important  truth, 
that  man  is  a  beast,  or  very  little  better,  we  are  told  of  another  na- 
tion, on  the  banks  of  the  Orellana,  so  wonderfully  stupid,  that 
they  cannot  reckon  beyond  the  number  thi'ee,  but  point  to  the  hair 
of  their  head,  whenever  they  would  signify  a  greater  number ;  as 
if  four,  and  four  thousand,  were  to  them  equally  inconceivable. 
But,  whence  it  comes  to  pass,  that  these  people  are  capable  of 
speech,  or  of  reckoning  at  all,  even  so  far  as  to  three,  is  a  difficulty, 
of  which  our  historian  attempts  not  the  solution.  But  till  he  shall 
solve  it,  I  must  beg  leave  to  tell  him,  that  the  one  half  of  his  tale 
contradicts  the  other  as  effectually,  as  if  he  had  told  us  of  a  people, 
who  were  so  weak  as  to  be  incapable  of  bodily  exertion,  and  yet,  that 
he  had  seen  one  of  them  lift  a  stone  of  a  hundred  weight. — •!  beg 
your  pardon,  madam,  for  running  into  this  subject.  The  truth  is,  I 
was  lately  thinking  to  write  upon  it ;  but  I  shall  not  have  leisure 
these  many  months. 

"  Take  no  farther  concern  about  your  dwarf.  The  person 
whom  you  honour  with  your  notice,  I  shall  always  think  it  my  duty 
to  care  for.  I  have  let  it  be  known  in  the  town  what  you  have 
done  for  him  ;  which,  I  hope,  will  be  a  spur  to  the  generosity  of 
others.  He  has  paid  me  but  one  visit  as  yet.  His  wants  are  few  ; 
and  he  seems  to  be  modest  as  well  as  magnanimous.  Both  virtues 
certainly  entitle  him  to  consideration. 

"  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  verses  on  Shakespeare  and  the 
dove.     One  thing  I  am  ccrtaiii  of,  which  is,  that  thev  will  contain 


268  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

nothing  so  much  to  the  purpose,  or  so  elegant,  as  what  you  have 
said  on  the  occasion,  in  pi'ose.  You  justly  remark,  that  any  bird  of 
character,  from  the  eagle  to  the  sky-lark,  from  the  owl  to  the  mock- 
bird,  might  symbolize  with  one  or  other  of  the  attributes  of  that 
universal  genius.  But  do  not  you  think,  that  his  dove-like  qualities 
are  among  those  on  which  he  noiv  reflects  with  peculiar  compla- 
cency ?  And  I  think  it  could  be  shown,  from  many  things  in  his 
writings,  that  he  resembled  the  dove,  as  much  as  the  eagle.  There 
are  no  surly  fellows  among  his  favourite  characters  ;  and  he  seems 
to  excel  himself  in  the  delineation  of  a  good-natui-ed  one.  Witness 
his  Brutus,  who  is  indeed  finished  con  ainore  ;  and  who,  in  gentle- 
ness of  nature,  exceeds  even  the  Brutus  of  the  good-natured  Plu- 
tarch, as  this  last  exceeded,  by  many  degrees,  (if  we  are  to  believe 
some  creditable  historians)  the  true  original  Brutus,  who  fell  at 
Philippi.  There  are  besides,  in  the  writings  of  Shakespeare,  innu- 
merable passages  that  bespeak  a  mind  peculiarly  attentive  to  the 
rights  of  humanity,  and  to  the  feelings  of  animal  nature.  Lear, 
when  his  distress  is  at  the  highest,  sympathizes  with  those,  who, 
amidst  the  pinchings  of  want  and  nakedness,  are  exposed  to  the 
tempestuous  elements.  I  need  not  put  you  in  mind  of  the /ioor  se- 
questered stag  in  "  As  you  like  it ;"  nor  need  I  say  more  on  a 
subject,  with  which  you  are  much  better  acquainted  than  I  am." 


LETTER  ex. 


THE  REV,  DH  PORTEUS  to  DR  BEATTIE. 

Lambetli,  January  lltli,  1776. 

"  I  SHOULD  have  thanked  you  much  sooner  for  your  last 
letter,  of  the  ITth  of  October,  if  I  had  not  waited  for  a  second  from 
you,  which  you  gave  me  reason  to  expect,  in  a  short  time  after  the 
first.  This,  I  now  conclude,  has  slipped  your  memory,  or  has  been 
rendered  impracticable,  by  your  many  important  avocations,  which, 
at  this  time  of  the  year,  1  know,  are  very  numerous.  I  am  afraid, 
too,  bad  health  has  had  some  share  in  suspending  your  correspon- 
dence with  your  friends. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  269 

^'  I  congratulate  you,  and  Mrs  Beattie,  most  cordially,  on  the 
many  dangers  you  have  escaped,  since  we  saw  you,  both  in  your 
own  persons,  and  that  of  your  little  boy.  Your  escape  from  the 
precipice,  where  your  chaise  was  overturned,  was  really  next  to 
miraculous.  At  least,  I  am  sure,  it  affords  a  strong  argument  in 
favour  of  a  particular  providence,  and  might  very  well  be  opposed 
to  all  the  profound  reasonings  of  Dr  Hawkesworth  against  it. 
Though,  I  suppose  the  Doctor  would  have  said  in  your  case,  as  he 
did  in  that  of  the  Endeavour  on  the  rock,  that,  instead  of  intei'pos- 
ing  to  deliver  you  out  of  that  danger,  it  should  have  taken  care  to 
preserve  you  from  ever  coming  into  it. — But  where  then  would 
have  been  that  strong  sense  of  God's  favour  and  protection,  that 
gratitude  and  thankfulness  for  so  visible  a  mark  of  it,  that  entire 
trust  and  acquiescence  in  it  for  the  future,  which,  I  am  sure,  so 
singular  an  accident  produces  in  your  mind,  and  must  have  pro- 
duced in  every  mind,  not  totally  devoid  of  all  religious  principles, 
and  devout  sentiments  ?'* 


LETTER  CXI. 


DU  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  JOHN  LUNDIE.* 


Aberdeen,  l^th  September,  \77S. 

"  I  AM  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  Latin  translation  of 
"  Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Green."  It  is,  as  you  observe,  vastly  in- 
ferior to  Vincent  Bourne.  I  have  not  had  time  to  read  it  very  criti- 
cally ;  but  I  should  imagine,  from  what  I  have  seen,  that  the  trans- 
lator has  not  always  hit  his  author's  meaning.  I  know  not  on  what 
authority  we  ascribe  this  old  poem  to  our  King  James  I.  If  it  be 
his,  which  I  very  much  doubt,  it  is  surprising  that  he,  a  king,  and 

•  Minister  of  the  parish  of  Lonmay  in  Aberdeenshire,  one  of  the  very 
few  remaining  of  Dr  Beattie's  earliest  friends.  My  own  intimate  acquain- 
tance with  this  venerable  and  respectable  clergyman  has  subsisted,  without 
interruption,  for  upwards  of  half  a  century. 


270  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

who  had  his  education  in  England,  should  be  so  well  acquainted 
with  the  manners  of  the  common  people  of  Scotland."* 


LETTER  CXIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  HONOURABLE  MR  BARON  GORDON,  f 

Aberdeen,  6th  February,  1776. 

"  I  HAVE  been  very  much  employed  in  preparing  some 
little  things  of  mine  for  the  press  ;  otherwise  I  should  sooner  have 
acknowledged  the  favour  of  your  most  obliging  letter. 

"  The  last  time  I  read  Virgil,  I  took  it  into  my  head,  that  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  books  of  the  ^Eneid  were  not  so  highly  finished 
as  the  rest.  Every  body  knows,  that  the  last  six  books  are  less  per- 
fect than  the  first  six  ;  and  I  fancied  that  some  of  the  last  six  came 
nearer  to  perfection  than  others.  I  cannot  now  recollect  my  rea- 
sons for  this  conceit ;  but  I  propose  to  read  the  ^neid  again,  as 
soon  as  I  have  got  rid  of  this  publication  ;  and  I  hope  I  shall  then  be 
in  a  condition  to  give  something  of  a  reasonable  answer  to  any 
question  you  may  do  me  the  honour  to  propose  in  regard  to  that 
matter. 

*  In  the  biogra])liical  account  of  our  friend  Mr  Tytler,  I  have  assigned 
some  reasons  for  believing  |  King  James  I.  of  Scotland  to  have  been  the  au- 
thor of  "  Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Green."  In  reply  to  Dr  Beattie's  surprise, 
how  that  Prince,  who  had  his  education  in  England,  could  be  so  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  manners  of  the  common  people  of  Scotland,  it  may  be  ob- 
served, that  James  was  eleven  years  of  age  before  he  left  Scotland.  He  had 
therefore  ample  opportunity  of  being  familiarly  conversant  with  the  charac- 
teristic sports  and  genius  of  the  people  among  whom  he  bad  been  brought 
up.  And  as  what  we  see  and  hear,  at  that  early  period,  makes  tlie  deepest 
and  most  lasting  impression  on  the  mind,  even  a  captivity  of  nineteen  years, 
in  England,  could  not  obliterate  the  ideas  he  had  received  in  early  youtli, 
when  he  returned  and  took  possession  of  his  kingdom,  in  which  he  reigned 
thirteen  years,  before  he  was  cut  off  by  a  foul  assasination. 

t  Cosmo  Gordon  of  Cluny,  in  Aberdeenshire,  one  of  the  Barons  of  his 
Majesty's  Court  of  Exchequer  in  Scotland.  Possessed  of  an  ample  paternal 
fortune,  which,  by  economy,  he  had  himself  considerably  improved,  he  lived 

J  See  Appendix,  [O.j 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  271 

'"•  I  do  not  mean,  that  the  tenth  or  eleventh  books  are  at  all  imper- 
fect J  I  only  mean,  that  they  fall  short  of  Virgilian  perfection. 
j\nd  many  passages  there  are  in  both,  which  V^irgil  himself  could 
not,  in  my  opinion,  have  made  better.  Such  are  the  story  of  Me- 
zentius  and  Lausus,  in  the  end  of  the  tenth  book ;  and  that  pas- 
sage in  the  eleventh,  where  old  Evander  meets  the  dead  body  of 
his  son.  Mezentius  is  a  character  of  Virgil's  own  contrivance,  and 
it  is  extremely  well-drawn  :  an  old  tyrant,  hated  by  his  people,  on 
account  of  his  impiety  and  cruelty,  yet  graced  with  one  amiable 
virtue,  which  is  sometimes  found  in  very  rugged  minds,  a  tender 
affection  for  a  most  deserving  son.  Filial  affection  is  one  of  those 
virtues  which  Virgil  dwells  upon  with  peculiar  pleasure ;  he  never 
omits  any  opportunity  of  bringing  it  in,  and  he  always  paints  it  in 
the  most  lovely  colours.  iEneas,  Ascanius,  Euryalus,  Lausus,  are  all 
eminent  for  this  virtue  ;  and  Turnus,  when  he  asks  his  life,  asks  it 
only  for  the  sake  of  his  poor  old  father.  Let  a  young  man  read  the 
iEneid  with  taste  and  attention,  and  then  be  an  undutiful  child  if  he 
can.  I  think  there  is  nothing  very  distinguishing  in  Camilla.  Per- 
haps it  is  not  easy  to  imagine  more  than  one  form  of  that  character. 
The  adventures  of  her  early  youth,  are,  however,  highly  interest- 
ing, and  wildly  romantic.  The  circumstance  of  her  being,  when 
an  infant,  thrown  across  a  river,  tied  to  a  javelin,  is  so  very  singu- 
lar, that  I  should  suppose  Virgil  had  found  it  in  some  history  ;  and, 
if  I  mistake  not,  Plutarch  has  told  such  a  story  of  King  Pyrrhus. 
The  battle  of  the  horse,  in  the  end  of  the  eleventh  book,  is  well  con- 
ducted, considering  that  Virgil  was  there-left  to  his  shifts,  and  had 
not  Homer  to  assist  him.  The  speeches  of  Drances  and  Turnus 
are  highly  animated  ;    and  nothing  could  be  better  contrived  to 

with  splendid  hospitality,  and  very  successfully  cultivated  letters,  and 
courted  the  society  of  men  of  learning.  Having  the  advantage,  himself,  of 
a  correct  taste,  and  much  classical  learning,  particularly  in  tlie  best  Roman 
authors,  with  whom  he  was  familiarly  acquainted,  Mr  Baron  Gordon  was  a 
most  entertaining  companion,  as  well  as  excellent  correspondent.  He  was 
much  attached  to  Dr  Beattie,  who  frequently  spent  some  days  with  him,  at 
his  seat  of  Cluny,  not  far  from  Aberdeen  :  and  to  him,  jointly  with  Major 
Mercer,  Mr  Arbuthnot,  and  myself,  Dr  Beattie  dedicated  tiie  volume  of  his 
son's  miscellanies,  and  the  account  of  his  life,  which  was  printed  soon  after 
his  death.  I  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  Mr  Baron  Gordon's  intimate  acquain- 
tance, from  a  very  early  period  of  life.  He  died  in  Edinburgh,  19th  Novem- 
ber, 1800. 


272  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

raise  our  idea  of  ^neas,  than  the  answer  which  Diomede  gives  to 
the  ambassadors  from  the  Italian  army. 

"  I  ought  to  ask  pardon  for  troubUng  you  with  these  superficial 
remarks.  But  a  desire  to  approve  myself  worthy  of  being  ho- 
noured with  your  commands,  has  led  me  into  a  subject,  for  which  I 
am  not  at  present  prepared.  When  I  have  the  pleasure  to  pay  my 
respects  to  you  at  Cluny,  which,  I  hope,  will  be  early  in  the  sum- 
mer, I  shall  be  glad  to  tajk  over  these  matters,  and  to  correct  my 
opinions  by  yours." 


LETTER  CXIII. 

t)R  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  CAMERON. 

Aberdeen,  22d  February,  1776. 

"  THE  objections  to  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  which  you  hint 
at,  have  been  often  urged  by  the  Edinburgh  critics.  The  reasons, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  discover,  which  make  them  particularly  severe 
on  that  performance ;  but  I  have  met  with  more  candour  and  less 
prejudice  elsewhere.  Even  in  Edinburgh,  there  are  many  worthy 
and  learned  persons,  who  have  done  me  the  honour  to  approve 
what  I  did,  with  a  sincere  pvu'pose  to  advance  the  cause  of  truth, 
and  do  good  to  society. 

"  Your  good  principles,  and  your  good  heart,  will  secure  you 
against  the  sneers  and  sophistries  of  persons,  who  dislike  religion 
out  of  prejudice,  and  are  dissatisfied  with  the  evidence  of  it,  which 
they  do  not  understand,  because  they  have  never  examined  it. 
Bear  always  in  mind  this  truth,  which  admits  of  the  most  satisfac- 
tory proof:  No  person  of  a  good  heart  understands  Christianity 
without  wishing  it  to  be  true  :  and  no  person  of  a  good  judgment 
ever  studied  its  evidence,  impartially,  and  with  a  sincere  wish  that 
it  might  be  true,  who  did  not  really  find  it  so," 


In  the  course  of  the  year  1776,  the  new  edition,  in  quarto,  of  his 
"  Essay  on  Truth,"  so  long  expected,  made  its  appearance.  Of 
this  publication,  by  subscription,  as  the  nature  and  original  inten- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  -  275 

tion  of  it  had  been  somewhat  misunderstood,  he  had  given  an  ex- 
planation, in  a  letter  to  Lady  Mayne,*  written  soon  after  the  sub- 
scription was  set  on  foot.  Various  causes,  chiefly  his  own  bad 
health,  had  retarded  the  publication  till  now.  But  when  at  last  the 
book  did  appear,  it  amply  rewarded  the  subscribers,  and  the  public, 
for  the  delay.  To  the  *'  Essay  on  Truth"  he  gave  a  preface, 
(dated  30th  April,  1776,)  in  which  he  says,  that  "  This  new  edition 
"  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  found  less  faulty  than  any  of  the  former. 
"  Several  inaccuracies  are  removed,  unnecessary  words  and  sen- 
"  tences  expunged,  a  few  erroneous  passages  either  cancelled  or 
"  rectified,  and  some  new-modelled  in  the  style,  which  before 
"  seemed  too  harshly,  or  too  strongly  expressed."  "  But,  in 
"  regard  to  the  reasons  and  general  principles  of  this  Essay,"  he 
had  not,  he  says,  "  seen  cause  to  alter  his  opinion  ;  though  he  had 
*'  carefully  attended  to  what  had  been  urged  against  them  by 
"  several  ingenious  authors.  Some  objection,"  he  adds,  "  will 
"  perhaps  be  found  obviated  by  occasional  remarks  and  amend- 
"  ments,  interspersed  in  this  edition."  He  closes  his  preface,  by 
mentioning  an  advertisement,  prefixed  by  Mr  Hume,  to  a  new  edi- 
tion of  his  "  Essays,"  in  which  that  writer  seems  to  disown  his 
Treatise  of  Huma?i  Mature^  and  desires  that  those  "  Essays,  as  then 
"  published,  may  be  considered  as  containing  his  philosophical 
*'  sentiments  and  principles." 

In  reply  to  this  advertisement,  Dr  Beattie,  after  giving  an  ac- 
count of  the  reasons  which  had  at  first  induced  him  to  publish  the 
"  Essay  on  Truth,"  goes  on  to  say,  "  Our  author  certainly  merits 
"  praise  for  thus  publicly  disowning,  though  late,  his  Treatise  of 
"  Human  Miture  ;  though  I  am  sorry  to  observe,  from  the  tenor 
"  of  his  declaration,  that  he  still  seems  inclined  to  adhere  to 
"  '  most  of  the  reasonings  and  principles  contained  in  that  trea- 
"  tise.'  But  if  he  has  now  at  last  renounced  any  one  of  his  er- 
"  rors,  I  congratulate  him  upon  it,  with  all  my  heart.  He  has 
'*  many  good,  as  well  as  great  qualities ;  and  I  rejoice  in  the  hope, 
"  that  he  may  yet  be  prevailed  on  to  relinquish,  totally,  a  system, 
"  whicli,  I  should  think,  would  be  as  uncomfortable  to  him,  as  it 
"  is  unsatisfactory  to  others.  In  consequence  of  his  advertisement, 
"  I  thought  it  right  to  mitigate,  in  this  edition,  some  of  the  cen- 

*  See  p.  224. 
2  M 


tj74  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  sures  that  more  especially  refer  to  the  Treatise  of  Human 
"  Nature  :  but  as  that  treatise  is  still  extant,  and  will  probably  be 
"  read  as  long  at  least  as  any  thing  I  write,  I  did  not  think  it  ex- 
"  pedient  to  make  any  material  change  in  the  reasoning,  or  in  the 
"  plan  of  this  performance."* 

Besides  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  the  volume  contains  three 
other  essays  ;  "  On  Poetry  and  Music,  as  they  affect  the  Mind." 
"  On  Laughter,  and  Ludicrous  Composition."  "  On  the  Utility  of 
"  Classical  Learning."  Subjects  in  themselves  extremely  inter- 
esting to  every  reader  of  taste,  and  all  of  which  he  has  treated  in  a 
very  masterly  manner.t  And  to  the  whole  there  is  prefixed  a  list 
of  neai'ly  five  hundred  subscribers,  containing  the  names  of  many 
of  the  most  distinguished  characters  for  rank  and  learning,  both  in 
the  church  and  state  ;  an  honourable  testimony  to  the  merit  of  Dr 
Beattie,  and  highly  creditable  to  the  period  in  which  he  lived. 


LETTER  CXIV. 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM    FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  2J  August,  1776. 

"  YOUR  manuscript  is  perfectly  safe.  I  have  read  it  through, 
and  have  Avritten  a  few  remarks  (very  slight  ones  indeed)  on  the 
first  part  of  it.  You  have  treated  of  some  subjects  that  are  highly 
important,  and  withal  very  difficult.  That  of  Providence  I  have 
chiefly  in  my  eye.  You  treat  it  with  great  accuracy  and  clearness; 
but  you  seem  to  me  rather  too  anxious  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  it, 
and  explain  it  in  such  a  way  as  shall  leave  few  or  no  difficulties  un- 
solved. Now,  I  presume,  this  is  not  necessary.  The  mysteries  of 
Providence  are  perhaps  unsearchable,  in  some  degree,  to  all  created 
beings.  We  are  not  obliged  in  these  matters  to  be  ivhe  above  ivhat 
is  written  ;  and  I  know  not  whether  a  habit  of  thinking  too  deeply 

•  Preface  to  the  edition  in  4to  of  Dr  Beattie's  Essays,  published  in 
1776,  p.  ix — xiv. 

t  For  some  farther  account  of  these  essays,  see  Appendix,  [Y] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  275 

on  certain  points,  may  not  rather  tend  to  darken,  than  to  illuminate 
the  understanding.  It  certainly  produces  a  facility  of  devising  ob- 
jections, which,  though  we  see  they  are  frivolous,  may  give  us  a 
great  deal  of  trouble.  I  wish  my  son  to  believe  what  the  Scripture 
declares  concerning  Providence ;  but  1  would  not  wish  him  to  enter 
so  far  into  the  subject,  as  ever  to  be  puzzled  in  his  attempts  to  re- 
concile Divine  decrees  with  contingency,  or  the  Divine  prescience 
with  human  liberty.  This,  however,  is  only  my  opinion  ;  I  would 
not  urge  it  upon  you,  and  perhaps,  if  I  shall  ever  regain  my  former 
health  and  spirits,  I  may  have  less  disinclination  to  these  subjects, 
than  I  have  at  present.  But  I  will  endeavour  to  explain  myself  on 
this  point  more  intelligibly  hereafter," 


In  the  following  letter  to  Mr  Cameron,  Dr  Beattie  speaks  of  a 
plan,  at  that  time  in  agitation,  of  a  new  and  improved  poetical  ver- 
sion of  the  Psalms,  for  the  use  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  of  which 
more  will  be  said  hereafter. 


LETTER  CXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  CAMERON. 

Aberdeen,  4th  August,  1776. 

"  I  APPROVE  greatly  of  your  design  of  versifying  some 
passages  of  Scripture,  for  the  enlargement  of  our  Psalmody.  You 
cannot  employ  your  muse  in  a  way  more  honourable  to  yourself, 
or  more  useful  to  your  country.  The  specimen  you  sent  to  me,  I 
think  extremely  good.  I  returned  it,  as  you  desired,  to  the  gentle- 
man, after  marking,  Avith  a  pencil,  a  few  criticisms  which  then  oc- 
ciu'red  to  me.  You  judge  very  rightly  in  regard  to  the  style  that 
is  most  proper  in  these  compositions.  It  should  be  perfectly 
simple  and  perspicuous,  without  any  quaintness,  and  free  from  all 
superfluous  epithets.     At  the  same  time,  it  shguld  be  harmonious 


276  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

and  elegant,  and  equally  remote  from  rusticity  and  affectation.  In 
a  word,  it  should  have  dignity  to  please  the  best  judges,  and  a  plain- 
ness adapted  to  the  meanest  capacity. 

"  I  received  a  letter  some  time  ago,  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
Committee  for  the  enlargement  of  the  Psalmody,  to  which  I  meant 
to  have  returned  an  answer,  but  have  hitherto  been  prevented  by 
bad  health,  and  an  unusual  hurry  of  business.  The  business  is  now 
almost  over,  but,  unhappily,  I  have  not  recovered  my  health  :  and 
therefore,  I  fear,  it  will  be  a  considerable  time  before  I  be  in  a  con- 
dition to  write  that  answer,  which  will  be  a  pretty  long  one,  and 
contain  some  remarks  on  the  several  English  versions  of  the 
Psalms,  with  a  proposal  for  a  new  version  to  be  made,  by  collecting 
all  the  best  passages  of  the  other  versions. 

"  The  ground-work  of  this  new  version,  ought  (I  think)  to  be 
that  which  we  now  use  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  which,  ac- 
cording to  my  notions  in  these  matters,  is  the  best  that  has  yet  ap- 
peared in  English  ;  though  it  is  neither  so  elegant  in  the  language, 
nor  so  perspicuous  in  the  meaning,  as  it  might  easily  be  made. 
Tate  and  Brady  are  too  quaint,  and  where  the  Psalmist  rises  to 
sublimity,  (which  is  very  often  the  case)  are  apt  to  sink  into  bom- 
bast ;  yet  Tate  and  Brady  liave  many  good  passages,  especially  in 
those  psalms  that  contain  simple  enunciations  of  moral  truth. 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins  are  in  general  bad,  but  have  given  us  a  few 
stanzas  that  are  wonderfully  fine,  and  which  ought  to  be  adopted  in 
this  new  version.  Watts,  though  often  elegant,  and  in  many  re- 
spects valuable,  is  too  paraphrastical :  from  him,  I  would  propose, 
that  a  good  deal  should  be  taken  ;  but  I  would  not  follow  him  im- 
plicitly. King  James's  version,  which  is  the  basis  of  that  which 
■we  use  in  Scotland,  is,  considering  the  age  and  the  author,  surpris- 
ingly good  :  and  in  many  places  has  the  advantage  of  ours,  not- 
withstanding that  this  was  intended  as  an  improvement  upon  it. 
Now  my  scheme  is,  to  take  the  best  passages  of  these  versions,  and 
out  of  them  to  make  a  new  version.  You  say,  it  would  be  a  motley 
piece  of  work,  if  so  many  authors  were  concerned  in  it.  I  answer, 
no;  if  the  collection  were  judiciously  made.  Besides,  the  Psalms 
themselves  are  the  work  of  several  authors,  David,  Asaph,  Moses, 
&c. — Where  then  is  the  absurdity  of  translating  them  in  the  man- 
ner I  hint  at?  The  version  I  speak  of,  I  mean  only  to  propose,  and 
give  some  hints  for  conducting  it;  I  am  not  at  all  qualified  for  such 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  217 

a  work.     My  ignorance  of  the  Hebrew  tongue  is  alone  sufficient 
disqualification. 

"  I  had  no  hand  in  the  collection  of  Parafihrases  of  some  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  published  about  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  and 
sometimes  printed  in  the  end  of  our  Psalm-books.  That  collection 
appeared  long  before  I  was  of  age  to  attempt  any  sort  of  composi- 
tion, either  in  verse  or  prose." 


On  the  15th  August,  1776,  Mr  Hume  died  in  Edinburgh,  after 
having  been  afflicted  for  more  than  a  twelvemonth  with  a  complaint 
which  he  himself  believed  would  prove  fatal.  His  death,  therefore, 
he  had  foreseen  for  some  considerable  time  ;  yet  his  cheerfulness, 
and  composure  of  mind,  remained  unabated,  and  he  even  exerted, 
at  times,  a  playful  humour,  not  altogether  decorous  in  so  solemn  a 
situation.* 

The  world  was  not  naturally  unsolicitous  to  see,  whether  Mr 
Hume,  in  his  dying  moments,  would  express  any  sentiments  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  he  had  published  in  his  philosophical 
writings.  But  although  he  retained  the  full  possession  of  his  fa- 
culties to  the  last,  he  preserved  a  most  cautious  silence  on  that 
subject,  and  never  uttered  a  word  that  could  indicate  whether  any 
change  had  taken  place  in  his  opinions  or  not.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe,  however,  that  his  sentiments  remained  still  the 
same  :  for  he  left  for  publication,  a  treatise,  entitled,  "  Dialogues 
"  on  Natural  Religion,"  of  a  similar  strain  with  those  which  had 
been  printed  during  his  life-time. 


The  following  letter  was  written  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  the 
Reverend  Mr  Carr,  the  worthy  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Chapel 
in  Edinburgh,  which  I  attend.  The  congregation  having  deter- 
mined to  erect  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  their  deceased  pas- 
tor, committed  the  execution  of  it  to  Mr  Arbuthnot  and  me.  Being 
anxious  to  avail  ourselves  of  Dr  Beattie's  aid,  we  sent  him  an  in- 
scription, which  seemed  to  be  such  as  was  wished  for;  but  of  which 
we  requested  the  favour  of  his  correction. 

*  Dr  Adam  Smith's  Letter  to  Mr  Strahan,  p.  xxi. 


278  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CXVII. 


DTi  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


Peterhead,  10th  Septembei,  177Q. 

"  I  A^I  no  stranger  to  Mr  Carr's  character,  whose  death, 
though  I  had  not  the  honour  of  his  acquaintance,  was  a  real  afflic- 
tion to  me ;  for  I  have  long  considered  him  as  one  of  the  most 
valuable  men  of  the  age.  I  have  heard  him  preach,  and  admired 
his  gentle  and  pathetic  eloquence.  But  to  his  merits  as  a  preacher, 
great  as  they  were,  the  lustre  of  his  private  character  was  still  su- 
perior. The  death  of  such  a  man  is  a  real  loss  to  society.  I  sym- 
pathize particularly  with  you,  my  dear  sir,  on  this  occasion  ;  as  I 
have  often  heard  you  speak  of  MrCarr  with  such  warmth  of  affec- 
tion, as  shewed  you  to  be  deeply  interested  in  his  welfare. 

"  I  have  carefully  read  over  the  two  inscriptions,*  which,  with 
a  few  trifling  remarks  of  my  own,  I  return  enclosed,  lest  you  should 
not  have  kept  a  copy.  I  think  them  both  excellent ;  and  I  believe 
it  would  puzzle  a  better  critic  than  I  am,  to  assign  any  good  reason 
for  preferring  the  one  to  the  other.  The  elders  of  your  congrega- 
tion are  the  only  persons  who  ought  to  determine  this  matter  ;  for 
they  are  best  acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the  deceased,  and  they 
best  know  what  sort  of  inscription  they  would  wish  to  see  on  the 
walls  of  their  church.  For  me  to  attempt  to  make  any  material 
improvement  on  either,  would  be  great  folly,  as  well  as  presump- 
tion.    I  am  in  doubt  v.hether  it  be  necessary  to  mention  the  sud- 

•  The  one  written  by  Mr  Arbuthnot,  the  other  by  me.  From  these  two, 
by  the  help  of  Dr  Beattie's  criticisms,  we  prepared  the  inscription,  wiiicli  is 
engraved  on  a  marble  tablet,  at  the  south  door  of  our  chapel,  and  of  which 
the  following  is  a  copy.     It  does  no  more  than  justice  to  his  character.! 

t  For  some  further  account  of  this  excellent  person,  see  Appendix,  [Z.l 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  279 

denness  of  Mr  Carr's  death.*  To  so  good  a  man  it  is  of  no  im- 
portance whether  he  expire  by  degrees,  or  at  once.  In  the  com- 
mon opinion,  sudden  death  is  an  evil ;  and  as  such  it  is  considered 
in  the  Litany  of  the  church;  and  such  it  would  be,  no  doubt,  to 
the  greater  part  of  mankind;  but  to  Mr  Carr,  it  was  rather  a  good 


Near  this  Place  are  deposited 
The  Remauis 

of 
THE  REVEREND  GEORGE  CARR, 

Senior  CUrgyman  of  this  Chapel; 

In  1X1  ham 

j[Ieekness  and  3'Ioderation, 

Unaffected  Piety, 

and 

Universal  Benevolence, 

Were  equally  and  eminently  conspicuous . 

After  bailing  faithfully  discharged  the  Duties 

<'f 

His  sacred  Function, 

During  thirty-nine  Tears, 

He  died. 

On  the  ISth  August,  1776, 

In  the  7lst  Year  of  his  Age, 

Beloved,  Honoured,  Lamented .' 

His  Congregation, 

Deeply  sensible  of  the  Loss  they  have  sustained 

By  the  Death  of  this  excellent  Person, 

By  whose  mild  yet  pathetic  Eloyuence, 

By  whose  exemplary  yet  engaging  Man7iers, 

They  have  been  so  long  instructed  in  the  Duties, 

and 

■     Animated  to  the  Practice, 

of 

Pure  Peligion, 

Have  erected  this  Monument, 

To  record  ' 

The  Virtues  of  the  Dead 

and 
Gratitude  of  the  Living. 

*  Mr  Carr's  death  was  instantaneous  :  as  he  was  preparing'  to  officiate  on 
a  Sunday  morning,  as  usual. 


280  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

than  an  evil.     But  my  notions  in  this  respect  may  perhaps  be 
whimsical,  and  therefore  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  them. 

"  You  judcje  very  rightly  of  Dr  Campbell's  book  :*  it  is  indeed 
a  most  ingenious  performance,  and  contains  more  curious  matter, 
on  certdn  topics  of  criticism,  than  any  other  book  I  am  acquainted 
with. 

"  Lord  Monboddo's  third  volume  f  I  have  not  yet  seen.  It  will 
certainly  be  full  of  learning  and  ingenuity  :  but  perhaps  the  au- 
thor's excessive  admiration  of  the  Greek  writers  may  lead  him  into 
some  paradoxes,  and  make  him  too  insensible  to  the  merits  of  mo- 
dern literature.  I  have  a  great  respect  for  Lord  Monboddo  ;  I 
know  him  to  be  a  learned  and  a  worthy  man  ;  and  I  am  greatly 
concerned  to  see  him  adopt  some  opinions,  which,  I  fear,  are  not 
very  salutary. 

"  But  I  know  nobody  that  has  less  occasion  than  yourself  to 
study  these  authors,  with  a  view  to  the  formation  of  a  good  style. 
I  beg  your  partiality  to  me  may  not  so  blind  you  to  the  faults  of 
mine,  as  ever  to  make  you  think  of  studying  it  for  a  pattern.  You 
are  pleased  to  pay  me  compliments  on  this  head,  which  I  do  not 
by  any  means  deserve.  The  style  of  my  letters,  whatever  you  and 
Mr  Arbuthnot  may  say,  is  not  a  good  style ;  it  has  nothing  of  that 
accuracy,  that  ease,  or  that  simplicity,  which  it  ought  to  have. 
Nay,  in  the  prose  I  have  printed,  my  expression,  after  all  the  pains 
I  have  taken  about  it,  is  not  what  I  wish  it  to  be  :  it  is  too  pom- 
pous, and,  I  fear,  too  visibly  elaborate ;  and  there  is  often  a  harsh- 
ness and  a  stiffness  in  it,  wdiich  I  would  fain  avoid,  but  cannot. 
Even  provincial  improprieties,  I  know,  I  am  not  proof  against, 
though  few  people  have  been  more  careful  to  keep  clear  of  them. 
'J'he  longer  I  study  English,  the  more  I  am  satisfied  that  Addison's 
prose  is  the  best  model :  and  if  I  were  to  give  advice  to  a  young 
man  on  the  subject  of  English  style,  I  would  desire  him  to  read 
that  author  day  and  night.  I  know  not  what  may  be  the  opinion  of 
others;  but,  in  my  own  judgment,  that  part  of  my  writings,  which 
in  the  article  of  style  has  the  least  demerit,  is  An  Essay  on  Laughter^ 
which  is  now  in  the  press  ;  yet  perhaps  my  partiality  to  it  may  be 
owing  to  this  circumstance,  that  it  is  the  last  thing  I  corrected." 

•  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric. 

t  Origin  and  Progress  of  Language.     See  p.  VT . 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  281 

The  following  letter  to  me  was  written  after  my  recovery  from 
a  dangerous  illness.  It  contains  some  important  observations  on  a 
very  solemn  subject. 


LETTER  CXVIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  22d  January,  17*7. 

"  I  SHALL  not  attempt,  my  dear  sir,  to  tell  you,  what  a 
transition  from  grief  to  happiness  I  lately  experienced,  on  occasion 
of  your  illness  and  recoveiy.  Your  own  heart  will  teach  you  to 
conceive  it,  but  I  have  no  words  to  express  it. 

"  The  account  you  give  me  of  your  thoughts  and  feelings^ 
■when  your  disorder  was  at  the  height,  is  very  interesting.  That 
insensibility  which  you  complain  of,  and  blame  yourself  for,  is,  I 
believe,  common  in  all  similar  cases;  and  a  merciful  appointment 
of  Providence  it  is.  By  deadening  those  affections,  to  which  life  is 
indebted  for  its  principal  charm,  it  greatly  alleviates  the  pangs  of 
dissolution.  In  fact,  the  pains  of  death  to  a  man  in  health  appear 
much  more  formidable,  than  to  a  dying  man.  This  at  least  is  my 
opinion ;  and  I  have  been  led  into  it  by  what  has  been  observed,  of 
some  people's  displaying  a  fortitude,  or  composure,  at  the  hour  of 
death,  who  had  all  their  lives  been  remarkably  timorous  and  weak- 
minded.  The  proximate  cause  of  this,  I  take  to  be  that  same  stujior 
Avhich  gradually  steals  upon  our  senses,  as  our  dissolution  draws 
near.  And  that  the  approach  of  death  should  produce  this  stuJior^ 
needs  not  surprise  us,  when  we  consider,  that  the  approach  even  of 
sleep  has  something  of  the  same  effect ;  and  that  the  keenness  of  our 
passions  and  feelings,  in  general,  depends  very  much,  even  when 
we  are  in  tolerable  health,  upon  our  bodily  habit.  If  sleep  is  found 
to  disorder  our  reason,  and  give  a  peculiar  wildness  to  our  fancy ; 
if  memory  may  be  hurt,  as  it  certainly  has  been,  by  a  blow  on  the 
head  ;  if  a  superabundance  of  certain  bodily  humours  give  rise  to 
certain  passions  in  the  mind;  if  drunkenness  divest  a  man,  for  a 
time,  of  his  character,  and  even  of  many  of  his  favourite  opinions 
(for  I  have  known  a  staunch  Presbyterian,  who  was  always  a  Ro- 

2  X 


'J82  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

man  Catholic  in  his  liquor) ;  if  even  a  full  meal  gives  a  languor  to 
the  mind,  and  impairs  a  little  our  faculties  of  invention  and  judg- 
♦nent ;  we  have  good  reason  to  think,  that  the  connection  between 
our  soul  and  body  is  very  intimate  ;  and  may  therefore  admit  the 
probability  of  what  I  now  advance,  namely,  that  when  the  powers 
and  energies  of  the  human  body  are  disordered  by  the  near  ap- 
proach of  death,  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  tlie  soul  should  perceive 
or  feel  with  its  wonted  acuteness.  The  stujior,  therefore,  you  men- 
tion, was  something  in  which  your  will  had  no  part,  but  the  natural 
and  necessary  effect  of  a  cause  purely  material.  I  ask  pardon  for 
all  this  philosophy  ;  which,  however,  I  cannot  conclude,  without 
one  remark  more  ;  v/hich  is,  that  this  doctrine,  if  true,  ought  to  be 
matter  of  comfort  to  a  good  man,  as  well  as  an  alarm  to  such  as  are 
not  of  that  character.  To  the  former,  it  promises  an  easy  dissolu- 
tion ;  and  it  ought  to  teach  the  latter,  that  of  all  places  on  earth,  a 
death-bed  is  the  most  improper  for  devotion  or  repentance. 

"  You  smile,  perhaps,  at  the  seriousness  of  these  remarks;  but 
I  am  led  into  them  by  reading  your  letter,  and  considering  the  occa- 
sion of  it.  I  must  repeat,  that  you  are  a  very  severe  judge  of 
yourself.  You  are  conscious,  you  say,  of  many  faults,  which  the 
world  does  not  see  in  you.  But  you  ought  to  remember,  that 
every  man  is  frail  and  fallible ;  and  the  virtue  even  of  the  best  man, 
must,  in  order  to  appear  meritorious  at  the  great  tribunal,  have 
something  added  to  it,  which  man  cannot  bestow. 

"  I  must  put  a  stop,  however,  to  the;se  grave  remarks  ;  and  to 
descend  at  once  from  a  very  important  to  a  most  trifling  subject,  I 
shall  now  speak  a  word  or  two,  concerninsj  my  own  works. 

"It  is  very  kind  in  you  to  speak  so  favourably  of  these  "Essays."* 
You  will  see  I  have  not  laid  claim  to  much  originality  in  these  per- 
formances. My  principal  purpose  was  to  make  my  subject  plain 
and  entertaining,  and,  as  often  as  I  could,  the  vehicle  of  moral  in- 
struction ;  a  purpose  to  which  every  part  of  the  philosophy  of  the 
human  mind,  and  indeed  of  science  in  general,  may,  and  ought,  in 
my  opinion,  to  be  made  in  some  degree  subservient.  I  was  very 
much  on  my  guard  against  paradoxes  ;  yet  I  expect  that  many  of 

*  On  Poetry  and  Music  as  ihcy  aiTectthe   Mind. 
On  Laughter  and  Ludicrous  Composition. 
On  the  Utility  of  Classical  Lear:iing.     Printed  in  Ti77& 
See  Appendix,  C-A-A.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  3S2 

my  opinions,  those  especially  that  relate  to  music  and  classical 
learning,  will  meet  with  opposition.  Mr  Tytler  writes  me  word; 
that  he  cannot  admit  all  my  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  music  ;  but; 
if  I  rightly  understand  what  he  has  said  very  briefly  on  that  subject, 
I  should  imagine,  that,  if  he  would  favoxir  that  part  of  my  book  with 
a  second  perusal,  he  would  find  that  his  notions  and  mine  are  not 
very  different.  To  me,  indeed,  they  do  not  seem  to  differ  at  all.  1 
should  be  sorry  if  they  did  ;  as  I  believe  he  knows  more  of  that,  as 
well  as  of  other  matters,  than  I  do.  I  am  already  sensible  of  several 
inaccuracies  and  defects  in  my  book  ;  for  I  was  in  a  most  miserable 
state  of  health  when  I  sent  it  to  the  press  :  and  I  know  not  how  it 
is,  that  I  can  never  judge  rightly  of  my  own  style,  till  I  see  it  in 
print.  If  the  book  comes  to  a  second  edition,  and  if  I  have  health 
to  make  any  alterations,  there  are  many  things  which  must  be  cor- 
rected. I  should  be  glad  to  hear  how  it  takes  with  your  people  in 
general. 

"  You  may  believe  Dr  Porteus's  advancement*  gives  me  great 
pleasure.  It  was  what  I  did  expect,  though  I  am  sure  he  did  not. 
He  says  in  his  last  letter,  "  I  have  reason  to  believe,  that  I  owe 
"  this  advancement  principally  to  the  goodness  of  their  Majesties, 
"  who  have  been  graciously  pleased  to  think  me  deserving  of  much 
"  higher  honours  than  I  had  ever  the  presumption  to  look  up  to." 
When  I  was  in  England  in  1775,  the  Doctor  told  mp,  that  he  was 
not  particularly  known  to  the  King  at  that  time  ;  but  I  told  him,  I 
had  good  reason  to  believe,  that  his  Majesty  esteemed  him  very 
highly.  Indeed  I  know  no  man  that  better  deserves  to  wear  the 
mitre.  He  is  not  older  than  I  am ;  and  I  think  he  looks  much 
younger :  but  he  is  exemplary  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  a  cler- 
gyman, a  cheerful  pleasant  companion,  and  of  the  gentlest  manners ; 
he  is,  withal,  an  excellent  scholar,  a  most  elegant  writer,  and  a  man 
of  business.  He,  and  Dr  Hurd,  Bishop  of  Litchfield,t  ai-e,  I  think, 
the  best  preachers  I  ever  heard.  Indeed,  before  I  heard  them,  I 
cannot  say  that  I  distinctly  knew  what  true  pulpit  eloquence  was. 
The  king  seems  determined  to  promote  to  the  Episcopal  bench 
such  clergymen  only  as  are  most  distinguished  for  piety  and  learning. 

*  To  the  Bishoprick  of  Chester. 

t  Now  Bishops  of  London  and  Worcester 


284  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Dr  Markham,  now  Archbishop  of  York,  and  the  present  Bishops 
of  Chester  and  Litchfield,  had  not  originally  any  other  influence 
than  what  their  own  merit  gave  them,  Dr  Hurd  was  never  at 
Court  till  he  went  to  kiss  the  King's  hand,  on  being  nominated  tt> 
the  see  of  Litchfield." 


LETTER  CXVin. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  19th  February,  1777. 

"  I  HAVE  now,  my  dear  Sir,  read  over  your  papers  *  with  all 
the  attention  I  am  capable  of,  and  have  made  a  few,  a  very  few 
slight  remarks  in  the  margin.  The  perusal  has  given  me  very 
great  pleasure,  and  1  beg  you  will  send  me  the  rest  as  soon  as  you 
conveniently  can.  Every  thing  you  say  in  regard  to  the  evidence 
of  religion  has  my  most  hearty  concurrence  ;  one  or  two  sentences 
or  phrases  excepted,  which  are  not  at  all  material.  What  these 
are,  you  will  see  when  I  retui'n  the  papers.  I  am  clearly  of  opinion 
that  these  papers  will  make  a  most  valuable  addition  to  the  book. 
Mr  Jenyns's  late  treatise,  I  observe,  is  a  favourite  of  yours.  There 
is  indeed  a  great  deal  in  it  of  very  solid  and  ingenious  remark  ;  and 
I  am  convinced  it  will  do  much  good.  It  were  perhaps  to  be  wish- 
ed, that  the  author  had  made  fewer  concessions  to  the  adversary, 
and  spoken  with  more  respect  of  the  external  evidences.  But  when 
one  takes  up  a  favourite  hypothesis  or  argument,  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  avoid  carrying  it  rather  too  far  ;— such  is  the  weakness  of  human 
nature.  I  mean  not  to  object  to  Mr  Jenyns's  favourite  argument ;  it 
is  surely  most  satisfactory  to  every  candid  mind  ;  and  he  has  done  it 
more  justice  than  any  other  author  I  am  acquainted  with.  I  only 
wish  his  plan  would  have  allowed  him  to  touch  upon  the  external 
evidences,  which  ought  never  to  be  overlooked  by  those  who  would 

•  "  Letters  on  tlie  Religious  Belief  and  Practical  Duties  of  a  Christian," 
written  by  the  author  of  these  Memoirs  for  the  instruction  of  his  children, 
still  in  MS. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  285 

acquit  themselves  as  the  champions  of  Christianity.  I  began  a  lit- 
tle Treatise,  some  years  ago,  on  the  evidences  of  our  religion,  but 
have  never  finished  it ;  and  indeed  Mr  J.'s  Treatise  has  in  part  supei'- 
seded  mine.  My  meaning  w^as,  to  make  the  subject  plain  and  en- 
tertaining, and  suited  to  all  capacities,  especially  to  those  of  young 
people.  Like  Mr  Jenyns,  I  intended  only  a  little  book;  hut  it 
must  have  been  larger  than  his,  because  I  should  have  considered 
but  the  external  and  the  internal  evidence."* 


LETTER  CXIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS,  BISHOP  OF  CHESTER- 


2d  October,  1777. 


"  I  AM  much  obliged  to  your  Lordship  for  your  entertaining 
account  of  the  ancient  city  of  Chester,  and  its  neighbourhood.  It 
must  certainly  be  as  you  observe,  well  worthy  the  traveller's  atten- 
tion ;  and  if  it  is  ever  my  fortune  to  revisit  the  west  of  England,  I 
shall  be  inexcusable  if  I  do  not  direct  my  course  to  a  place,  which 
I  am  now,  on  many  accounts,  ambitious  to  be  acquainted  with. 

'■'■  Of  literary  matters  I  can  say  nothing.  The  doctor  com- 
manded me,  on  pain  of  death,  to  abstain  wholly  from  writing,  and 
to  read  nothing  but  novels,  or  such  books  as  require  no  attention.  I 
have  followed  the  prescription  most  punctually  ;  and,  since  my  fever 
in  the  spring,  have  not  written  half-a-dozen  pages,  (letters  included) 
nor  read  any  thing  but  Don  Quixote,  Spenser's  Fairy  Queen,  and 
Horace,  which  last  I  have  read  over  three  times.  As  I  have  not 
read  Dr  Robinson's  last  work,  I  cannot  form  any  opinion  about  it. 
Lord  Kaimes  has  published  a  book  of  agriculture,  which,  they  say, 
is  the  best  of  all  his  works,  Dr  Campbell  lately  printed  another 
excellent  sermon,  preached  at  Edinburgh  before  the  "  Society  for 
propagating  Christian  Knowledge."  The  subject  is,  "  The  success 
of  the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel,  a  proof  of  its  truth."    I  shall 

*  This  he  afterwards  most  admirably  accomplished  in  his   "  Evidences 
of  the  Christian  Religion,"  published  in  1786. 


286  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

have  the  honour  to  send  your  Lordship  a  copy  of  this  sermon  at, 
soon  as  I  return  to  Aberdeen.  I  have  read  Captain  Cooke's  pre- 
face, which  gives  me  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  author :  I  wish  for 
an  opportunity  to  read  the  whole  book.  When  a  man  of  sense  and 
spirit  publishes  the  history  of  his  own  affairs,  the  world  is  a  thou- 
sand times  better  instructed,  than  by  the  most  elaborate  composi- 
tions of  the  mere  book-maker." 


LETTER  CXX. 


THE  BISHOP  OF  CHESTER  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Hunton,  November  28th,  1777. 

"  DURING  our  stay  here,  Dr  -Robertson's  "  History  of 
America"  has  been  part  of  our  evening's  amusement.  He  is,  with- 
out dispute,  a  very  judicious  compiler,  and  very  elegant  writer,  and 
seems  to  have  taken  great  pains  in  this  work  to  collect  all  the  infor- 
mation that  could  possibly  be  obtained  from  books  and  manuscripts, 
of  which  he  has  consulted  a  considerable  number.  Of  these,  some 
of  the  most  curious  were  communicated  to  him  by  my  friend.  Lord 
Grantham,  ambassador  at  Madrid,  and  his  chaplain,  Mr  Waddilove. 
But  still  the  grand  source  of  original  information  was  not  opened 
to  him ;  I  mean  the  letters  and  papers  written  to  the  Spanish 
court  by  the  first  conquerors  of  America,  and  all  the  authentic 
documents  relative  to  that  transaction,  which  were  collected  by 
Philip  the  Second,  and  deposited  amongst  the  archives  of  the 
Spanish  monarchy,  at  a  place  called  Simanca,  near  Valladolid, 
above  a  hundred  miles  from  Madrid.  To  these  he  could  obtain  no 
access;  and  till  these  are  produced  to  the  world,  I  shall  never  sup- 
pose that  we  have  any  history  of  South  America  that  can  be  abso- 
lutely relied  upon.  As  far,  however,  as  Dr  Robertson's  materials 
go,  he  has  set  them  off  to  the  best  advantage,  and  has  enlivened 
Ihem  by  many  ingenious  and  useful  observations  on  the  natural  and 
moral  history  of  the  Aborigines  of  that  country.  He  has,  however, 
I  think,  missed  some  opportunities,  which  this  part  of  his  work 
threw  in  his  way,  of  drawing  a  comparison  between  the  state  of  the 
savage  and  of  the  Christian  world.     He  attributes  the  difference 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  287 

between  them  solely  to  the  improvements  of  civil  society.  I  am  of 
opinion,  that  the  gospel  has  had  a  large  share  in  this  happy  change  ; 
and  it  vi^ould  have  been  of  infinite  service  to  religion,  to  have  had  all 
its  beneficial  consequences  set  forth  by  so  fine  a  pen  as  Dr  Robert- 
son's. Such  incidental  arguments,  in  favour  of  religion,  interspersed 
occasionally  in  works  of  acknowledged  merit  and  reputation,  are 
perhaps  of  more  general  use  than  professed  defences  of  it.  The 
enemies  of  Christianity  have  long  taken  this  method  of  undermin- 
ing it,  and  its  friends  therefore  should  not  be  backward  in  taking 
the  same  means  to  recommend  it,  Mr  Gibbon  and  the  Abbe 
Raynal  have  more  especially  distinguished  themselves  by  this  spe- 
cies of  hostility  ;  for  which  reason  I  am  sorry  that  Dr  Robertson 
has  paid  them  both  such  high  compliments  as  he  has  done. 

"  I  hear  of  nothing  new  and  important  in  the  literary  world 
that  is  likely  to  make  its  appearance  this  winter,  except  a  new  trans- 
lation of  Isaiah,  by  Bishop  Lowth  ;  of  which  the  public  has  raised 
its  expectations  very  high,  from  the  known  abilities  and  learning 
of  the  author.  This,  I  believe,  is  in  very  great  forwardness.  There 
is  also  an  edition  of  "  Strabo,"  by  Mr  Falkner,  a  gentleman  of 
Chester,  every  way  equal  to  the  undertaking,  which  is  pretty  far 
advanced.  Archbishop  Markham  shewed  me,  the  other  day,  a 
collation  for  him,  of  a  manuscript  in  the  Escurial,  made  under  the 
direction  of  Canonico  Bayer,  and  procured  by  the  assistance  of 
Lord  Grantham." 

LETTER  CXXL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SYLVESTER  DOUGLAS,  ESq.  NOW  LORD  GLEX- 

BERVIE.* 

Aberdeen,  5th  Jiuuiary,  IT7S. 

''  I  AM  much  entertained  with  your  plan  of  writing  upo. 
the  Scottish  barbarisms,  accent.  Sec.     It  is  a  very  extensive  one  ; 

*  Between  whom  and  Dr  Beattie  an  intimacy,  contracted  in  early  life, 
subsisted  mutually,  and  without  interruption,  for  a  long  course  of  }ears.  I 
also  claim  the  distinction  of  ranking  Lord  Glenbervie  among  the  number  of 
those  who  have  honoured  me  with  their  regard ;  and  be  and  I  are  now  two 
of  the  very  few  survivi&g  associ;Ucs  of  Dr  Bcattic's  early  friendsbip. 


288  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

and,  in  your  hands,  will  be  very  entertaining  and  useful.  Most  of 
the  topics  you  mention  have  occasionally  engrossed  my  attention. 
I  have  written  many  sheets  upon  Scotticism,  and  the  structure  and 
rules  of  our  verse,  and  how  far  the  English  tongue  is  attainable  by 
a  native  of  Scotland,  and  in  what  respects  it  is  not  attainable  (I 
mean,  a  person  who  does  not  go  to  live  in  England  till  he  is  grown 
up).  I  once  intended  to  publish  something  on  English  prosody 
and  versification,  but  I  believe  my  literary  pursuits  are  all  over. 

Vos,  O  quibus  integri  <k~vi— 
Me  si  caelicoLt  voluissent 

The  greatest  difficulty  in  acquiring  the  art  of  ivriling  English,  is  one 
which  I  have  seldom  heard  our  countrymen  complain  of,  and 
which  I  was  never  sensible  of  till  I  had  spent  some  years  in  labour- 
ing to  acquire  that  art.  It  is,  to  give  a  -vernacular  cast  to  the  Eng- 
lish we  write.  I  must  explain  myself.  We  who  live  in  Scotland 
are  obliged  to  study  English  from  books,  like  a  dead  language. 
Accordingly,  when  we  write,  we  write  it  like  a  dead  language, 
which  we  understand,  but  cannot  speak  ;  avoiding,  perhaps,  all  un- 
grammatical  expressions,  and  even  the  barbarisms  of  our  country, 
but  at  the  same  time  without  communicating  that  neatness,  ease, 
and  softness  of  phrase,  which  appears  so  conspicuously  in  Addison, 
I>ord  Lyttelton,  and  other  elegant  English  authors.  Our  style  is 
stately  and  unwieldy,  and  clogs  the  tongue  in  pronunciation,  and 
smells  of  the  lamp.  We  are  slaves  to  the  language  we  write,  and 
arc  continually  afraid  of  committing  gross  blunders  ;  and,  when  an 
easy,  familiar,  idiomatical  phrase  occurs,  dare  not  adopt  it,  if  we 
recollect  no  authority,  for  fear  of  Scotticisms.  In  a  word,  ive  han- 
dle English,  as  a  person  who  cannot  fence  handles  a  sword  ;  con- 
tinually afraid  of  hurting  ourselves  v/ith  it,  or  letting  it  fall,  or  mak- 
ing some  awkward  motion  that  shall  betray  our  ignorance.  An 
English  author  of  learning  is  the  master,  not  the  slave,  of  his  lan- 
guage, and  wields  it  gracefully,  because  he  wields  it  with  ease,  and 
with  full  assurance  that  he  has  the  command  of  it. 

In  order  to  get  over  this  difficulty,  which  I  fear  is  in  some 
respects  insuperable  after  all,  I  have  been  continually  poring  upon 
Addison,  the  best  parts  of  Swift,  Lord  Lyttelton,  &c.  The  ear  is  of 
great  service  in  these  matters ;  and  I  am  convinced  the  greater  part 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  280 

of  Scottish  authors  hurt  their  style  by  admiring  and  imitating  one 
another.  At  Edinburgh  it  is  currently  said  by  your  critical  people, 
that  Hume,  Robertson,  &c.  write  English  better  than  the  English 
themselves  ;  than  which,  in  my  judgment,  there  cannot  be  a  greater 
absurdity.  I  would  as  soon  believe  that  Thuanus  wrote  better  Latin 
than  Cicero  or  Caesar,  and  that  Buchanan  was  a  more  elegant  poet 
than  Virgil  or  Horace.  In  my  rhetorical  lectures,  and  whenever  I 
have  occasion  to  speak  on  this  subject  to  those  who  pay  any  regard 
to  my  opinion,  I  always  maintain  a  contrary  doctrine,  and  advise 
those  to  study  English  authors,  who  would  acquire  a  good  English 
style. 

*'  I  agree  with  you,  that  many  of  the  vulgar  words  used  in  Scot- 
land may  be  traced  to  the  Saxon,  Cxerman,  Dutch,  Src.  The  French 
too,  and  the  Erse,  come  in  for  their  share,  especially  the  former. 
French  etymologies  abound  most  in  the  counties  to  the  south  of 
Aberdeen,  in  Mearns,  Angus,  Sec  where  you  know  the  natives  in 
their  pronunciation  have  the  sound  of  the  French  U.  I  know  of  no 
etymological  dictionary  of  this  dialect ;  but  a  great  deal  of  the 
knowledge  to  be  expected  in  such  a  dictionary  may  be  found  in 
Ray's  "  Collection  of  English  Proverbs,"  but  especially  in  Ruddi- 
man's  "  Glossary  to  Bishop  Douglas's  Virgil."  This  last  is  a  most 
learned  piece  of  lexicography.  You  will  see  it  in  that  edition  of 
"  Gavin  Douglas,"  which  was  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  folio,  in  1 7 10. 
I  need  not  tell  you,  that  the  Scottish  dialect  is  different  in  almost 
every  province.  The  common  people  of  Aberdeen  speak  a  language, 
that  would  scarce  be  understood  in  Fife  ;  and  how  much  the  Buchan 
dialect  differs  from  that  of  Lothian,  may  be  seen  by  comparing 
Ramsay's  "  Gentle  Shepherd"  with  "  Ajax's  Speech  to  the  Grecian 
Knabbs,"  which  you  will  no  doubt  remember  to  have  seen  in  your 
youth.  I  have  attended  so  much  to  this  matter,  that  I  think  I  could 
know  by  his  speech,  a  native  of  Banffshire,  Buchan,  Aberdeen, 
Dee-side,  Mearns,  Angus,  Lothian,  and  Fife,  as  well  as  of  Ross- 
shire,  and  Inverness. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  Erse  was  once  the  universal 
language  of  Scotland.  For  you  find  all  over  the  Low-lands,  that 
the  names  of  the  old  places  are  almost  all  derived  from  that  lan- 
guage. It  is  remarkable,  that  on  the  northern  side  of  that  great 
hollow  or  strath,  which  we  call  the  How  of  the  Afearns,  the  names 
of  places  are  generally  Erse,  and  on  the  south  side  English  or 


290  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Saxon.  This  seems  to  prove,  that  the  former  district  was  first  in- 
habited, which  is  indeed  probable  from  other  circumstances  ;  for  it 
fronts  the  sun,  and  is  sheltered  from  the  north  wind  by  the  Gram- 
pian mountains." 

As  an  introduction  to  the  following  letter,  it  may  be  proper  to 
mention,  that  not  long  after  Garrick's  celebration  of  the  jubilee  at 
Stratford-upon-Avon,  in  honour  of  Shakespeare,  in  the  year  1769, 
some  gentlemen  at  Edinburgh  proposed  also  to  celebrate  a  jubilee 
in  honour  of  our  countryman,  Thomson.  But  there  not  appear- 
ing a  sufficient  number  of  persons  of  any  note,  to  give  respectability 
to  such  a  meeting,  the  idea  was  laid  aside.  A  few  years  afterwards, 
Mr  Craig,  an  architect  of  some  merit,  who  designed  the  plan  of  the 
new  town  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  hall  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
there,  a  nephew  of  Thomson's,  formed  the  design  of  erecting  a 
monument  to  his  memory,  at  the  village  of  Ednam,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tweed,  the  place  of  Thomson's  birth,  and  Dr  Beattie  was  re- 
quested to  write  an  inscription.  The  site  of  the  proposed  monu- 
ment was  the  summit  of  Ednam  hill.  This  eminence  slopes  regu- 
larly and  beautifully  to  the  surrounding  valley,  and  commands  a 
most  extensive  prospect ;  so  that  the  intended  monument  would 
have  been  seen  for  many  miles  in  every  direction.  But  this  inten- 
tion was  frustrated  by  Craig's  death.  In  order,  however,  that  the 
memory  of  the  poet  might  not  remain  altogether  unhonoured,  se- 
veral gentlemen,  who  reside  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ednam,  have 
formed  themselves  into  a  society,  which  for  some  years  past  has 
met  there  annually  on  the  birth  day  of  Thomson. 

The  following  letter  of  Dr  Beattie's,  besides  the  inscription,  con- 
tains some  excellent  remai'ks  on  that  species  of  composition. 

LETTER  CXXII. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESQ. 

Aberdeen,  22d  July,  1778. 

"  MR  CRAIG  does  me  too  much  honour.  I  am  proud  to 
be  thought  of  so  favourably  by  so  ingenious  an  artist,  and  by  the 
nephew  of  a  man  who  was  an  honour  to  his  country  and  to  man- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  291 

kind  ;  and  to  whose  writings  I  am  under  very  particular  obliga- 
tions :  for  if  I  have  any  true  relish  for  the  beauties  of  natur^;,  I  may 
say  with  truth,  that  it  was  from  Virgil  and  from  Thomson  that  I 
caught  it.  The  memory  of  this  amiable  poet  cannot  be  dearer  to 
any  person  than  it  is  to  me  ;  and  I  siiould  be  heartily  sorry,  if  the 
monument,  to  be  erected  for  him,  were  not  such,  in  every  respect, 
as  he  himself  would  have  approved.  Mr  Craig  will,  I  am  sure, 
make  it  such  in  the  architecture  ;  and,  if  he  follow  his  own  ideas, 
in  the  inscription  too.  But  since  he  does  me  the  honour  to  desire 
to  have  my  opinion,  I  shall  give  it  with  the  greatest  sinccriiy.  I 
think,  then,  that  all  public  inscriptions,  whether  intended  for 
tombs,  or  cenotaphs,  or  bridges,  or  any  other  public  building,  are 
made  with  a  view  to  catch  tiie  eye  of  the  traveller,  and  convey  to 
him,  not  the  wit  of  the  composer,  but  some  authentic  information 
in  regard  to  the  object  that  draws  his  attention,  and  is  supposed  to 
raise  his  curiosity.  On  this  principle,  all  such  writings  ought  to 
be  perfectly  simple,  and  true,  and  as  concise  as  the  subject  and 
language  will  admit.  This  is  the  character  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  inscriptions,  which  it  is  a  pity  the  moderns  have  so  rarely 
imitated  :  for,  in  my  mind,  nothing  is  more  barbarous  than  those 
mixtures  of  verse  and  prose,  of  Latin  and  English,  of  narration  and 
common-place  moi-ality,  which  appear  in  our  churches  and  church- 
yards, and  other  public  places.  A  Gothic  arch  supported  by  Corin- 
thian pillars,  or  a  statue  with  painted  cheeks  and  a  hat  and  wig,  is 
not  a  greater  absurdity.  To  set  up  a  pillar  with  a  Latin  inscription, 
for  the  information  of  those  who  understand  no  language  but  Eng- 
lish, is  not  less  absurd.  I  never  heard  of  a  Greek  inscription  at 
Rome,  nor  of  a  Latin  one  at  Athens.  Latin  is  perhaps  a  more 
durable  language  than  English,  and  may  therefore  be  used  in  those 
inscriptions  that  are  put  on  the  foundation-stones  of  bridges,  and 
hid  under  ground  ;  for  these,  it  may  be  presumed,  will  not  be  read 
till  a  thousand  years  hence,  when  all  our  modern  languages  will 
probably  be  unintelligible.  But  I  cannot  but  think,  that  an  Eng- 
lish inscription,  exposed  to  wind  and  weather  in  this  climate,  will 
be  understood  as  long  as  it  can  be  read.  I  would  therefore,  lunn- 
bly  propose,  that  what  is  intended  for  Thomson's  monument 
should  be  in  English,  the  tongue  which  he  spoke,  and  to  which  his 
writings  do  so  much  honour,  and  the  tongue  which  all  travellers 
who  visit  Ednam  may  be  supposed  to  understaud  :  that  it  should 


292  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

be  simple  and  concise,  not  in  verse  (for  this  appears  more  like 
ostentation  of  wit  than  an  authentic  record),  but  in  prose,  well  mo- 
dulated, totally  free  from  all  quaintness,  superfluous  words,  and 
flowery  ornaments,— something  to  the  same  purpose  with  the  fol- 
lowing, and  in  a  similar  style.  But  observe,  that  as  I  do  not  mean 
to  enter  the  lists  with  either  of  the  two  great  writers,*  who  have 
already  prepared  inscriptions  for  this  work,  I  offer  the  following 
rather  as  a  hint  towards  one,  than  as  a  firiished  performance.  And 
let  me  remark  by  the  way,  that  1  have  been  more  devoted  to  this 
simplicity  of  style  in  public  inscriptions,  ever  since  I  read  a  ver- 
bose and  flowery  one  in  Latin,  near  the  banks  of  Loch  Lomond,  tp 
the  jnemorv  of  Doctor  Smollett. 

JAMES  THOMSON, 

Author  ©/"The  Seasons,  and  other  excellent  Poems, 

Which  promote 

Piety,  Patriotism,  Benevolence,  and  the  Love  of  Nature, 

Wherever  the  JUngluh  Tongue  is  understoody 

Was  born  in  this    Village,  Wth  September,    1700. 

Died  27th  August,  1748. 

And  is  buried  in  the   Church  of  Richmond  in  Surrey. 

To  do  honour  to  the  Place  of  his  Birth, 

And  as  a  Testimony  of  Veneration 

For  so  amiable  a  Poet, 

And  so  illustrious  a  Kinsman, 

This  monument  f  is  erected 

By  his  JVefiheiv,  James  Craig,  Architect. 

"  I  would  have  no  quotations  or  verses  on  the  monument ;  and 
I  beg  leave  to  say,  that  the  four  which  you  have  taken  from  the 
epilogue,  are  not  so  very  elegant  in  the  expression  as  might  be 
wished,  though  the  meaning  is  good,  and  perfectly  true. 

"  I  beg  my  best  respects  to  Sir  William  Forbes,  to  whom  I  will 
write  soon,  but  cannot  at  present ;  as  he  will  see  this  letter,  I  con- 
sider myself  as  writing  to  yovi  both.  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
giving  me  so  candidly  your  opinion  of  my  two  psalms.     It  has  de- 

*  Who  these  wpre,  does  not  appear.  t  O'"  pillar- 


l.IFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  293 

termined  me  to  lay  aside  all  thoughts  of  a  project,  which,  though 
tny  healtii  forbade  me  to  undertake  it,  had  been  too  much  in  my 
head  of  late.  For  I  see  now,  that  my  plan,  even  though  executed 
to  my  mind,  would  not  please  those  whom  I  most  wished  to  please, 
who  best  deserved  to  be  pleased,  and  who,  from  their  partiality  to 
me,  would  not  be  easily  displeased  with  any  work  of  mine.  I  am 
not  sure  whether  I  shall  ever  publish  the  letter  to  Dr  Blair,  unless 
I  were  to  make  some  additions  to  it,  to  justify  the  preference  which 
I  give  to  the  Assembly's  metre  Psalms;*  I  mean  to  their  plan,  for 
the  execution  has  all  the  faults  that  Sir  William  Forbes  mentions. 
In  England,  they  commonly  make  use  of  a  corrected  edition  of 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins;  and  I  confess  I  must  agree  with  them  so 
far,  as  to  think  that  rudeness,  which  is  the  effect  of  simplicity, 
more  pardonable,  than  those  finical  embellishments  that  are  owing 
to  affectation.  But  I  cannot  at  present  enter  upon  the  reasons  that 
would  determine  me  to  I'eject  all  paraphrastical  additions  and 
flowery  ornaments  in  a  version  of  the  Psalms,  and  adhere  to  that 
manly  (I  ought  to  have  said  divijiej  and  most  expressive  simpli- 
city, which  characterize  the  original."! 


LETTER  CXXIII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  22d  November,  1778. 

"  DURING  this  long  confinement,  I  have  often  been  forced 
to  have  recourse  to  my  pen  and  ink,  in  order  to  forget  my  anxiety 
for  a  few  minutes.  But  though  I  could  transcribe  and  correct  a 
little,  I  was  in  a  very  bad  state  fo\'  composition.  However,  since 
March  last,  I  have  written  in  a  fair  hand  about  370  pages.  In  this 
collection  there  are  (besides  other  matters)  three  essays,  on  "  Me- 

•  That  version  authorized  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland. 

t  See  what  he  himself  has  said  on  this  subject^  in  Letter  II.  p.  39. 


294  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

moiy,"  on  "  Imagination,"  and  on  "  Dreaming,"  on  which  I  set 
some  value.  I  shall  read  them  to  my  class  very  soon ;  they  will 
make  about  ten  lectures,  of  an  hour  each.  In  treating  of  Memory 
and  Imagination,  I  have  endeavoured,  not  only  to  ascertain  their 
phenomena  and  laws,  but  also  to  propose  rules  for  improving  the 
former  faculty,  and  for  regulating  the  latter.  The  view  I  have 
taken  of  Dreaming  is  new,  so  far  as  I  know.  I  have  attempted  to 
trace  up  some  of  the  appearances  of  that  mysterious  mode  of  per- 
ception to  their  proximate  causes  ;  and  to  prove,  that  it  is  in  many 
respects  useful  to  the  human  constitution.  On  all  subjects  of  this 
nature,  I  have  constantly  received  more  information  from  my  own 
experience  than  from  books. 

"  One  of  the  next  faculties  that  come  in  my  way  is  Conscience, 
or  the  moral  faculty  ;  on  which  I  have  in  writing  a  great  number 
of  unfinished  observations.  If  I  live  to  finish  what  I  intend  on  this 
subject,  I  shall  probably  attempt  a  confutation  of  several  erroneous 
principles  that  have  been  adopted  by  modern  writers  of  morals,  but 
without  naming  any  names  ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely,  that  I  nriay  in- 
terweave the  substance  of  what  I  wrote  long  ago,  at  greater  length, 
on  the  unchangeableness  of  Moral  Truth.  But  winter  will  be  over 
before  I  can  seriously  set  about  it  ;  and  perhaps  the  state  of  my 
l-.ealth  may  oblige  me  to  drop  the  scheme  altogether.  However,  I 
do  not  repent  what  I  have  hitherto  done,  in  transcribing  and  cor- 
recting my  lectures  ;  for  I  have  been  careful  to  make  it  an  amuse- 
ment I'ather  than  a  task  ;  whence  I  have  reason  to  think,  that  my 
health  has  not  been  injured  by  it. 

"  I  have  been  reading  lately  a  most  extraordinary  work,  which 
I  did  read  once  before,  but  (I  know  not  how)  had  totally  forgotten. 
The  "  History  of  Benvenuto  Cellini,"  a  Florentine  goldsmith  and 
designer,  translated  from  the  Italian  by  Thomas  Nugent.  There 
is  something  in  it  so  singularly  characteristical,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  reject  the  whole  as  fabulous,  and  yet  it  is  equally  impossible 
not  to  reject  a  great  part  of  it  as  such.  To  reconcile  tliis,  I  would 
suppose,  what  the  work  itself  strongly  evinces,  that  the  author  must 
have  been  an  ingenious,  hot-lieaded,  vain,  audacious  man  ;  and  that 
the  violence  of  his  passions,  the  strength  of  his  superstilion,  and  the 
disasters  into  which  he  plunged  himself,  made  him  mad  in  the  end. 
We  know  that  the  Italians  of  the  16th  century  were  very  ingenious 
in  every  thing  that  relates  to  drawing  and  designing  ;  but  it  cannot 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  295 

be  believed,  that  Popes,  Emperors,  and  Kings,  were  so  totally 
engrossed  with  those  matters  as  Signior  Cellini  represents  them. 
If  you  have  never  seen  the  book,  I  would  recommend  it  as  a  curi- 
osity, from  which  I  promise  that  you  Avill  receive  amusement. 
Nay,  in  regard  to  the  manners  of  those  times,  there  is  even  some 
instruction  in  it." 


LETTER  CXXIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON.* 

Aberdeen,  10th  January,  1779. 

"  MAJOR  MERCER  made  me  very  happy  with  the  news  he 
brought  from  Gordon-Castle,  particularly  when  he  assured  me  that 
your  Grace  was  in  perfect  health.  He  told  me  too,  that  your  soli- 
tude was  at  an  end  for  some  time ;  which,  I  confess,  I  was  not  sor- 
ry to  hear.  Seasons  of  recollection  may  be  useful ;  but  when  one 
begins  to  find  pleasure  in  sighing  over  Young's  "Night  Thoughts" 
in  a  corner,  it  is  time  to  shut  the  book,  and  return  to  the  company. 
I  grant,  that,  while  the  mind  is  in  a  certain  state,  those  gloomy 
ideas  give  exquisite  delight ;  but  their  effect  resembles  that  of  in- 

*  Jane,  Dutchess  of  Gordon,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Maxwell  of  Mon- 
reith,  Baronet,  in  the  county  of  Wigton,  In  Scotland.  Her  Grace,  the  honour 
of  whose  intimate  acquaintance  I  have  long  had  tlie  happiness  to  enjoy,  dis- 
tinguished Dr  Beattie,  during  many  years,  by  her  friendship  and  correspon- 
dence, wliich  were  returned  on  his  part  by  every  respectful  sentiment  of 
esteem  and  admiration.  While  he  Mas  charmed  by  her  beauty,  the  brilliancy 
of  her  wit,  and  her  cidtivated  understanding,  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon  well 
knew  how  to  appreciate  the  talents  and  the  virtues  of  Dr  Beattie;  and  these 
letters,  selected  from  a  great  number,  during  a  long  epistolary  intercourse, 
strongly  evince  tlie  warmth  of  his  gratitude  for  her  unremitting  kindness  and 
attention  on  every  occasion.  Indeed,  so  tenderly  solicitous  was  the  Dutchess 
of  Gordon  at  all  times  to  sooth  his  sorrows,  and  dissipate  tliose  gloomy  idens 
that  preyed  npon  his  mind,  that  he  found  consolation  and  relief  in  t!ie  free 
interchang-e  of  thoughts  with  which  her  good  nature  delighted  to  indulge 
him :  And  he  has  often  been  heard  to  say,  that  he  was  never  more  happy 
than  in  the  society  he  found  at  Gordon-Castle. 


S^96  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

toxication  upon  the  body ;  they  may  produce  a  temporary  fit  of  fever- 
ish exuitation,  but  qualms,  and  weakened  nerves,  and  depression  of 
spirits,  are  the  consequence.  I  have  great  respect  for  Dr  Young, 
both  as  a  man  and  as  a  poet ;  I  xised  to  devour  his  "  Night  Thoughts" 
with  a  satisfaction  not  unlike  that  Avhich,  in  my  younger  years,  I 
have  found  in  walking  alone  in  a  church-yard,  or  in  a  wild  moun- 
tain, by  the  light  of  the  moon,  at  midnight.  Such  things  may  help 
to  soften  a  rugged  mind  ;  and  I  believe  I  might  have  been  the  bet- 
ter for  them.  But  your  Grace's  heart  is  already  "  too  feelingly 
alive  to  each  fine  impulse  ;"  and,  therefore,  to  you  I  would  recom- 
mend gay  thoughts,  cheerful  books,  and  sprightly  company  :  I 
might  have  said  comfiany  without  any  limitation,  for  wherever  you 
are,  the  company  must  be  sprightly.  Excuse  this  obtrusion  of  ad- 
vice. We  are  all  physicians  who  have  arrived  at  forty  ;  and  as  I 
have  been  studying  the  anatomy  of  the  human  mind  these  fifteen 
years  and  upwards,  I  think  I  ought  to  be  something  of  a  soul-doc- 
tor by  this  time. 

^'  When  I  first  read  Young,  my  heart  was  broken  to  think  of 
the  poor  man's  afliictions.  Afterwards,  I  took  it  into  my  head,  that 
Avhere  there  was  so  much  lamentation  there  could  not  be  excessive 
suffering ;  and  1  could  not  help  applying  to  him  sometimes  those 
lines  of  a  song, 

"  Believe  me,  tlie  shepherd  but  feigns  ; 
"  He's  wretched,  to  sliow  he  has  wit." 

On  talking  with  some  of  Dr  Young's  particular  friends  in  England, 
I  have  since  found  that  my  conjecture  was  right ;  for  that,  while 
he  was  composing  the  "  Night  Thoughts,"  he  was  really  as  cheer- 
ful as  any  other  man. 

"  I  well  know  the  effect  of  what  your  Grace  expresses  so  pro- 
perly, of  a  cold  yes  returned  to  a  warm  sentiment.  One  meets 
Avith  it  often  in  company  ;  and,  in  most  companies  with  nothing 
else.  And  yet  it  is  perhaps  no  great  loss,  upon  the  whole,  that 
one's  enthtisiasm  does  not  always  meet  with  an  adequate  return. 
A  disappointment  of  this  sort,  now  and  then,  may  have  upon  the 
mind  an  effect  something  like  that  of  the  cold  bath  upon  the  body ; 
it  gives  a  teiuporary  shock,  but  is  followed  by  a  very  delightful 
glow  as  soon  as  one  gets  into  a  society  of  the  right  temperatiu-e. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  gST" 

They  resemble  too  in  another  respect.  A  cool  companion  may  be 
disagreeuble  at  first,  but  in  a  little  time  he  becomes  less  so  ;  and  at 
our  first  plunge  we  are  impatient  to  get  out  of  the  bath,  but  if  we 
stay  in  it  a  minute  or  two,  we  lose  the  sense  of  its  extreme  coldness. 
Would  not  your  Grace  think,  from  what  I  am  saying,  or  rather 
preaching,  that  I  was  the  most  social  man  upon  earth  ?  And  yet  I 
am  become  almost  an  herjnit :  I  have  not  made  four  visits  these 
four  months.  Not  that  I  am  running  away,  or  have  any  design  to 
run  away,  from  the  world.  It  is,  I  rather  think,  the  world  that  is 
running  away  from  me. 

"  No  character  was  ever  more  fully,  or  more  concisely  drawn, 
than  that  of  Major  Mercer*  by  your  Grace.  I  was  certain  you 
would  like  him  the  more,  the  longer  you  knew  him.  With  more 
learning  than  any  other  man  of  my  acquaintance,  he  has  all  the 
playfulness  of  a  school-boy  ;  and  unites  the  wit  and  the  wisdom  of 
Montesquieu,  with  the  sensibility  of  Rousseau,  and  the  generosity 
of  Tom  Jones.  Your  Grace  has  likewise  a  very  just  idea  of  Mrs 
Mercer.f  She  is  most  amiable,  and  well  accomplished ;  and,  in 
goodness  and  generosity  of  nature,  is  not  inferior  even  to  the  Major 
himself.  I  met  her  the  other  day,  and  was  happy  to  find  her  in 
better  health  than  I  think  she  has  been  for  some  years.  This  will 
be  most  welcome  news  to  the  Major.  Pray,  does  your  Grace  think 
that  he  blames  me  for  not  writing  to  him  this  great  while  ?  The 
true  reason  is,  that  I  have  not  had  this  great  while  any  news  to 
send  him,  but  what  I  knew  would  give  him  pain  ;  and  therefore  I 
thought  it  better  not  to  write,  especially  as  we  have  been  in  daily 
expectation  of  seeing  him  here  these  several  weeks.  Will  your 
Grace  take  the  trouble  to  tell  him  this  ?  There  is  no  man  to  whom 
I  have  been  so  much  obliged  ;  and,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
there  is  no  man  or  woman  whom  I  love  so  well." 


•  See  p.  20.  and  Appendix,  [BB.]     He  was  at  that  time  I'Tajor  of  the 
Duke  of  Gordon's  regiment. 

t  Mrs  Mercer  was  sister  of  Lord  Glenbervle,     She  died  January,  1802. 
See  Appendix,  [R.] 


2  p 


598  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CXXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  18th  January,  1779. 

'^  YOU  are  right  in  your  conjecture,  that  a  metrical  version 
of  the  Psalms,  formed  upon  that  plan  of  severe  simplicity  which  I 
recommend,  would  be  a  very  difficult  work.  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  cant  in  the  style  of  poetry,  especially  of  modern  poetry  :  A 
set  of  epithets,  and  figures,  and  phrases,  which  a  certain  set  of  ver- 
sifiers bring  in  upon  all  occasions,  in  order  to  make  out  their  verses, 
and  prepare  their  rhymes.  If  a  poet  has  got  a  good  stock  of  these, 
and  a  knack  of  applying  them,  and  is  not  very  solicitous  about 
energy,  consistency,  or  truth  of  sentiment,  he  may  write  verses 
with  great  ease  and  I'apidity  ;  but  such  verses  are  not  read  above 
once  or  twice,  and  are  seldom  or  never  remembered.  Their  tawdry 
and  unnecessary  ornaments  make  them  as  unwieldy  to  the  memory, 
as  a  herald's  coat  is  to  the  body.  Besides,  where  language  is  much 
ornamented,  there  is  always  a  deficiency  in  clearness,  as  well  as  in 
force ;  and  though  it  may  please  at  its  first  appearance,  it  rarely 
continues  long  in  fashion.  The  favourite  authors  in  every  language 
are  the  simplest.  They  have  nothing  but  what  is  necessary  or  use- 
ful;  and  such  things  are  always  in  request.  My  reasons,  there- 
fore, for  recommending  a  very  simple  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms,  are  chiefly  these  :  1  st.  Such  a  version  will  approach  more 
nearly  than  an  ornamental  one  to  the  style  of  the  original ;  which, 
I  think,  will  be  allowed  to  be  an  advantage.  2d,  It  will  be  better 
understood  by  the  common  people  ;  for  when  poetical  language  is 
set  off  with  many  oi'naments,  it  must  be  in  a  great  measure  unin- 
telligible to  unlearned  readers.  3d,  It  will  continue  intelligible 
and  in  fashion  for  a  much  longer  time  ;  for  such  is  the  natural  and 
necessary  effect  of  elegant  plainness.  4th,  It  will  take  a  faster  hold 
of  the  memory.     One  of  my  reasons  for  tolerating  a  metrical  ver- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  299 

-sion  of  the  Psalms  is,  that  it  makes  them  more  easily  remembered. 
And  Horace,  when  speaking  on  a  subject  not  unlike  this,  has  very 
well  observed, 

"  Omne  supervacuum  fileno  depectore  inanat .-" 

Superfluities  of  style  perish  from  the  memory  like  water  poured 
into  a  vessel  thatis  already  full.  5th,  The  simplicity  I  contend  for  re- 
quires a  concise  expression,  and  consequently  conveys  much  mean- 
ing in  few  words  ;  and  this  is  particularly  necessary  in  words  in- 
tended to  be  sung  with  understanding.  For  singing  is  of  necessity 
(or  at  least  ought  to  be)  slower  than  speaking ;  and,  therefore,  if  the 
matter  is  not  very  close,  it  will  happen  sometimes  that  the  singer 
shall  be  sounding  notes  to  which  his  mind  annexes  no  definite  idea. 
One  of  my  objections  to  Merrick's  Psalms  would  be,  if  they  are  all 
like  the  specimen  you  favoured  me  with,  their  unnecessary  and  pa- 
raphrastical  diffuseness.  His  first  psalm  consists  of  thirty-four 
lines  ;  and  yet  I  am  certain,  that  the  whole  meaning  of  that  psalm 
might,  with  equal  harmony,  with  equal  elegance,  and  with  superior 
clearness,  be  expressed  in  twenty-four.  Tate  and  Brady's  second 
psalm  consists  of  forty -eight  lines,  and  my  version  of  that  psalm  of 
thirty-six  ;  if  the  two  versions  be  in  all  other  respects  only  equal,  I 
believe  that  which  has  fewest  words  would  be  thought  the  better. 
The  last  reason  I  shall  assign  is,  that  the  modish  tricks  and  orna- 
ments of  verse  appear  to  me  not  very  graceful  in  serious  poetry  of 
any  sort ;  but  in  sacred  poetry  I  consider  them  as  worse  than  un- 
graceful, as  even  indecent.  A  high-priest  of  the  Jews,  officiating  at 
the  altar  in  ruffles  and  a  laced  waistcoat,  or  a  clergyman  in  the  pul- 
pit, with  the  airs  and  dress  of  a  player,  are  incongruities  of  the  same 
kind  with  these,  which,  in  a  poetical  version  of  the  Psalms,  ought 
to  be  avoided.  Is  it  right,  think  you,  for  a  Christian  on  Sunday,  in 
the  church,  to  sing, 

"  His  rains  from  heaven  parched  hills  recruit, 

"  That  soon  transmit  the  liquid  stoi-e  ; 
"  'Till  earth  is  burthened  with  her  fruit, 

"  And  Nature's  lap  can  hold  no  more  ?" 

The  harshness  of  the  first  line,  and  the  half  nonsense  of  the  first 
couplet,  might  be  excused  ;  but  what  shall  we  say  to  the  Pagan  al- 
lusion in  the  last  line  ? 


300  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTiE. 

"  After  what  you  know  of  my  mind  on  this  subject,  1  am  sure  I 
need  not  say  that  it  is  far  from  my  purpose  to  recommend  a  rude 
or  clownish  simplicity,  whereof  I  confess  that  there  are  innumera- 
ble instances  in  the  version  tiiatis  in  most  common  use  in  Scotland  ; 
and  yet,  in  the  present  case,  rusticity  is  better  than  finicalness.  I 
would  rather  see  in  the  pulpit  a  sun-burnt  face,  than  a  painted  one ; 
and  a  coat  out  at  elbows,  than  one  overlaid  with  embroidery.  The 
middle  way,  you  will  say,  is  best ;  and  I  allow  it :  And,  between 
ourselves,  I  think  it  peculiarly  honourable  to  the  church  of  England, 
that,  while  she  keeps  at  a  distance  from  the  pageantries  of  the 
Romish  church,  she  also  avoids  that  ritual,  which  might  do  very 
well  with  pure  spirits,  but  which  is  too  apt  to  produce  listlessness 
and  coldness  in  creatures  weighed  down  with  llesh  and  blood.  I 
would  have  every  thing  neat  and  plain,  and  as  elegant  as  is  consist- 
ent with  plainness,  in  the  public  services  and  in  the  language  of  re- 
ligion :  or,  if  now  and  then  I  were  to  introduce  a  little  pomp,  which 
I  believe  I  should  often  be  inclined  to  do,  I  would  still  make  it  sim- 
ple and  plain  ;  which,  if  I  mistake  not,  would  heighten  its  magnifi- 
cence, and  give  permanency  to  its  effects.  Elegant  and  pure  sim- 
plicity is  the  characteristic  of  the  true  pulpit-style,  as  it  is  now 
established  by  the  best  models,  both  ancient  and  modern  ;  the  same 
thing  holds  true  of  the  prayers  of  the  church  of  England  ;  only 
these  have  (what  they  ought  to  have)  something  of  a  more  elabo- 
rate and  more  dignified  composition,  than  becomes  the  sermon. 

"  I  knoAV  not  whether  there  be  any  thing  new  in  my  papers  on 
the  "  Origin  of  Evil,"  and  the  "  Evidences  of  Christianity."  It  will 
be  a  considerable  time  before  I  get  forward  to  those  subjects.  At 
present  I  confine  myself  to  such  as  are  most  amusing,  and  withal 
least  connected  with  those  topics  which  formerly  engrossed  me  to 
a  degree  that  ruined  my  health.  How  much  my  mind  has  been  in- 
jured by  certain  speculations,  you  will  partly  guess,  when  I  tell  you 
a  fact,  that  is  now  unknown  to  all  the  world, — -that  since  the  "  Essay 
*'  on  Truth"  was  printed  in  quarto  in  the  summer  of  1776,  I  have 
never  rfarerf  to  read  it  over.  I  durst  not  even  read  the  sheets,  to  see 
whether  there  were  any  errors  in  the  print,  and  was  obliged  to  get 
a  friend  to  do  that  office  for  me.  Not  that  I  am  in  the  least  dissa- 
tisfied with  the  sentiments :  every  word  of  my  own  doctrine  I  do 
seriously  believe  ;  nor  have  I  ever  seen  any  objections  to  it  which 
I  could  not  easily  answer.     But  the  habit  of  anticipating  and  obviat- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  301 

ing  arguments,  upon  an  abstruse  and  interesting  subject,  came  in 
time  to  have  dreadful  effects  upon  my  nervous  system  ;  and  I  can- 
not read  what  I  then  Avrote,  without  some  degree  of  horror,  because 
it  recals  to  my  mind  the  horrors  that  I  have  sometimes  felt,  after 
passing  a  long  evening  in  those  severe  studies.  You  will  perhaps 
understand  me  better,  when  I  have  told  you  a  short  story.  One 
who  was  on  board  the  Centurion,  in  Lord  Anson's  voyage,  having 
got  some  money  in  that  expedition,  purchased  a  small  estate,  about 
three  miles  from  this  town.  I  have  had  several  conversations  with 
him,  on  the  subject  of  the  voyage,  and  once  asked  him,  whether  he 
had  ever  read  the  history  of  it.  He  told  me  he  had  read  all  the 
history,  except  the  description  of  their  sufferings  during  the  run 
from  Cc/?e  Horn  to  Juan  Fernandez,  which,  he  said,  were  so  great, 
that  he  durst  not  recollect  or  think  of  them," 


LETTER  CXXVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Aberdeen,  31st  January,  1779. 

"  I  LATELY  met  with  what  I  consider  as  a  great  curiosity 
in  the  musical  vvay.  Take  the  history  as  follows :  Mary,  the  con- 
sort of  King  William,  was  a  great  admirer  of  a  certain  Scots  tune, 
■which  in  England  they  call  Cold  and  Raw,  but  which  in  Scotland  is 
better  known  by  the  name  of  Ufi  in  the  Morning  early.  One  day  at 
her  private  concert,  where  Purcel  presided,  the  Queen  interrupted 
the  music,  by  desiring  one  Mrs  Hunt,  who  was  present,  to  sing  the 
ballad  of  Cold  and  Raiv.  The  lady  sung  it  ;  and  it  is  said,  that 
Purcel  was  a  little  piqued  at  being  obliged  to  sit  idle  at  his  harpsi- 
chord, and  having  his  own  compositions  interrupted  for  the  sake  of 
such  a  trifle.  The  Queen's  birth-day  was  soon  after,  when  Purcel, 
who  composed  the  court  music  for  that  solemnity,  in  order  either  to 
please  the  Queen,  or  to  surprise  her,  or  merely  to  indulge  his  own 
humour,  made  Cold  and  Raw  the  bass  of  one  of  the  songs.  This 
anecdote  I  met  with  some  months  ago  ;  and  my  author  added,  that 
this  individual  song  was  printed  in  Purcel's  "  Orfiheus  Britannicus." 


302  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

I  had  a  great  desire  to  see  this  song,  that  I  might  know  how  such  a 
genius  would  acquit  himself  when  confined  iij  such  trammels.  I 
confess,  for  all  my  high  opinion  of  Purcel,  1  did  not  expect  that  a 
song  composed  on  such  a  plan  could  be  a  good  one  ;  but  I  am 
agreeably  disappointed.  The  song,  or  hymn,  (for  it  is  in  the  church 
style)  is,  in  my  opinion,  excellent.  I  inclose  a  copy  of  it,  that  you 
may  judge  for  yourself.  It  will  not  perhaps  strike  you  at  first,  but 
when  you  have  gone  over  it  five  or  six  times,  you  will  like  it  much. 
There  is  sometiiing  of  a  very  original  cast  in  the  composition." 


LETTER  CXXVn. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  1st  February,  1779. 

"  I  SINCERELY  sympathize  with  you  on  the  death  of  Mr 
Garrick.*  I  know  not  how  his  friends  in  London  will  be  able  to 
bear  the  loss  of  him,  for  he  was  the  most  delightful  cempanion  in 
the  world.  On  the  stage  nobody  could  admire  him  more  than  I 
did  ;  and  yet,  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  did  not  admii'e  him  still 
more  in  private  company.  What  a  splendid  career  he  has  run ! 
idolized  as  he  has  been  by  the  public,  as  well  as  by  his  friends,  for 
almost  half  a  century  :  happy  in  his  fortune  and  in  his  family,!  su- 
perior to  envy,  invulnerable  by  detraction  :  and  yet  nobody,  who 
knew  him  will  say  that  his  good  fortune  was  greater  than  his 
merit. 

"  I  have  just  received  the  JSTotes  on  Potter's  "  Eschylus,"  by 
which  I  am  happy  to  find,  that  my  opinion  of  that  translation  is  ra- 
tified by  your's.  I  did  not  think  it  possible  to  do  justice  to  the  old 
Grecian  in  any  modern  tongue  ;  but  Mr  Potter  has  satisfied  me, 
that  I  was  mistaken.  It  seems  to  me,  that  this  is  indisputably  the 
best  translation  that  ever  appeared  in  English  of  any  Greek  poet. 
I  beg.  Madam,  you  will  exert  all  your  influence  with  the  author,  to 
make  him  go  on  with  "  Euripides." 

•  For  some  fai-tlier  account  of  this  great  actor,  see  the  Appendix,  [CC] 
t  Mr  Garrick  was  married,  but  never  had  any  children. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  30^ 


LETTER  CXXVIII. 


MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE, 


Hill-Street,  10th  February,  1779. 

"  I  ADMIRE  your  perseverance  in  your  college  duties  and 
literary  labours,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  discouragements  as  want 
of  health  and  domestic  anxiety  bring  with  them.  I  rejoice  in  that 
perseverance,  which  will  give  to  the  world  and  me  the  means  of  so 
much  instruction  and  pleasure.  You  do  well  in  collecting  and 
fitting  for  publication  what  you  have  already  written.  My  learned 
and  excellent  friend,  Mr  Stillingfleet,  by  daily  enlarging  his  lucu- 
brations, and  not  putting  the  finishing  hand  to  any,  condemned  to 
the  flames,  at  his  death,  (which  did  not  happen  till  he  was  near 
seventy)  many  valuable  manuscripts. 

"  You  would  read,  with  melancholy  pleasure,  the  honours  done 
to  Mr  Garrick's  remains,  and  the  tender  regret  expressed  for  his 
loss.  He  seemed  to  quit  the  theatre  of  the  world  as  he  did  that  at 
Drury-lane,  before  any  of  the  energy,  any  of  the  graces,  with  which 
he  was  wont  to  enspirit  or  adorn  the  part  he  was  to  act,  were  en- 
feebled or  faded.  In  full  possession  of  our  admiration,  in  perfect 
dominion  of  our  aflections,  and  command  of  our  sympathies,  he 
quitted  us  :  No  wonder  we  wept  at  the  catastrophe !  As  he  gre\v 
disengaged  from  the  theatrical  character,  he  grew  more  absolute 
and  excellent  in  the  charms  of  the  private.  He  gave  the  highest 
spirit  to  conversation  ;  the  highest  joy  and  mirth  at  the  convivial 
board.  The  literary  men  considered  him  as  one,  who,  by  a  kind  of 
intuition,  possessed  all  they  valued  in  themselves,  and  had  a  closer 
intellectual  correspondence  with  them  than  any  other  man.  So 
universal  an  actor  must  be  considered  rather  as  a  general  connois- 
seur of  the  human  mind  in  all  situations,  than  as  one  by  profession 
a  mimic  of  it. 

"  Mr  Garrick,  in  his  own  character,  was  highly  respectable- 
His  friends  have  a  great  loss,  the  distressed  and  poor  have  a  great 
loss,  his  wife  the  greatest;  I  think  I  never  saw  such  perfect  affec. 


304  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

tion  and  harmony  as  subsisted  between  them.  No  words  can  paint 
her  woe ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  do  justice  to  the  piety,  resig- 
nation, and  dignity  of  her  behaviour  on  this  sad  occasion. 

"  I  was  much  pleased  with  your  pamphlet  on  "  Psalmody,"  and 
I  cannot  think  it  possible  it  should  give  offence.  I  think  psalms, 
written  with  great  and  noble  simplicity,  and  sung  in  the  same  man- 
ner, friendly  to  devotion  ;  and  it  is  almost  an  offence  to  call  in  the 
aid  of  insensible  and  inanimate  things  to  praise  the  Giver  of  life  and 
reason.  A  psalm,  decently  sung  by  the  congregation,  always  ex- 
cites my  devotion  more  than  the  organ.  I  would  employ  musical 
instruments  in  a  Pagan  temple,  but  only  the  voice  of  man  in  a 
Christian  church. 

"  I  am  very  glad  youare  so  pleased  with  Mr  Potter's  "  Eschylus." 
I  shall  communicate  to  him  what  you  have  said  ;  and  praise  like 
yours  will  excite  him  to  proceed  with  his  translation  of  "  Euripides." 
Poor  man,  he  has  lately  met  with  great  domestic  afflictions !  It 
seems  to  me,  that  he  is  a  man  of  great  genius  and  learning. 

"  My  letters  from  Paris  tell  me,  that,  since  the  death  of  Vol- 
taire, freethinking  seems  less  fashionable.  At  Paris  every  thing  is 
governed  by  fashion ;  I  wish  it  may  be  a-la-mode  to  endeavour  to 
go  to  heaven." 


LETTER  CXXIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  22d  February,  1779. 

"  MY  friends  in  England  are  all  in  tears  for  poor  Garrick- 
In  his  own  sphere  he  was  certainly  the  greatest  man  of  his  time ;  and 
since  I  knew  him,  I  have  always  thought,  that  in  private  company 
his  talents  were  not  less  admirable  than  upon  the  stage.  There  was 
a  playfulness  in  his  humour,  and  a  solidity  in  his  judgment,  wliich 
made  him  at  once  a  most  delightful  and  most  instructive  associate. 
After  passing  part  of  two  days  with  him  at  his  house  at  Hampton, 
I  once  intended  to  have  addressed  to  him  a  copy  of  veri>es<  in  which 
I  had  actually  made  some  progress  j  but  something  interposed  to 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  305 

prevent  me.  The  thought,  as  I  remember,  was  to  this  purpose  : 
That  in  him  the  soul  of  Shakespeare  had  revived,  after  undergoing 
in  the  other  world  a  purification  of  one  hundred  years ;  for  that  was 
the  exact  space  of  time  between  the  death  of  Shakespeare  and  the 
birth  of  Garrick.  Kindred  spirits  they  certainly  were.  Shake- 
speare was  never  thoroughly  understood  till  Garrick  explained  him. 
Both  were  equally  great  in  tragedy  and  in  comedy  ;  and  yet  for 
comedy  both  had  evidently  a  predilection." 


LETTER  CXXX. 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  Sin  WILLIAM    FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  10th  April,  1779. 

"  I  HAVE  at  last  made  good  my  promise,  in  regard  to  the 
"Scotticisms  ;  and  send  you  inclosed  a  little  book,  containing  about 
two  hundred,  Anth  a  praxis  at  the  end,  which  will  perhaps  amuse 
you.  I  printed  it  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  give  away  to  the 
young  men  who  attend  my  lectures.  This  collection  I  have  been 
making  from  time  to  time  for  some  years  past.  I  consulted  Mr 
Hume's  list,  and  took  a  few  from  it.  Mr  Elphinston's  book  I  also 
looked  into,  (that  book  I  mean  which  he  wrote  either  for  or  against 
Lord  Kaimes)  and  it  supplied  me  with  three  or  four  :  But  Elphin- 
ston  is  mistaken  in  many  things,  and  his  own  style  is  not  free  from 
Scotticism  ;  which,  however,  is  one  of  his  least  faults  ;  for  so 
affected  and  enigmatical  is  his  phraseology,  that  he  cannot  be  said 
to  have  a  style  at  all.  Dr  Campbell  gave  me  about  a  dozen.  The 
rest  are  the  result  of  my  own  observation.  I  shall  in  time,  I  be- 
lieve, collect  as  many  more  as  will  be  a  supplement  to  this  pamph- 
let ;  for  they  are  endless.  Even  since  these  came  from  the  press, 
I  have  recollected  a  few  others,  which  you  will  find  in  the  postscript. 
I  am  not  positive  that  every  one  of  my  remarks  are  right ;  but  I 
intend  to  send  them  to  a  learned  friend  in  England,  who  will  cor- 
rect what  is  amiss.  If  any  material  amendment  is  made,  I  shall 
inform  you  of  it. 


SOS  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Youropinion  of  Bishop  Lowth's  "  Isaiah"  coincides  exactly  with 
mine.  It  is  equal  to  my  highest  expectations,  and  does  honour  to  our 
age  and  nation.  I  wish  the  learned  prelate  may  proceed  in  his  pious 
undertaking,  and  give  us  as  many  of  the  other  books  of  Scripture 
as  his  other  duties  will  leave  him  at  leisure  to  revise.  I  made  two  or 
three  trifling  remarks  on  the  language  of  his  translation,  in  which 
there  are  some  peculiai'ities  that  I  cannot  account  for.  To  hist^ 
(meaning  to  call  with  a  wlustle)  is  a  word  which  I  never  before 
met  with  either  in  print  or  in  conversation,  and  which  indeed  I 
should  not  have  understood,  if  the  author  had  not  explained  it  in  his 
notes;  I  suspect  it  may  be  provincial.  Ilex.^  too,  and  cyon,  area 
sort  of  technical  words,  the  one  belonging  to  botany,  the  other  to 
gardening  ;  and,  as  such,  ouglit  not,  I  think,  to  have  a  place  in  a 
popular  translation  of  Scripture.  It  is  a  striking  beauty  in  our 
English  Bible,  that,  though  the  language  is  always  elegant  and 
nervous,  and  for  the  most  part  very  harmonious,  the  words  are 
all  plain  and  common  ;  no  affectation  of  learned  terms,  or  of  words 
of  Greek  or  Latin  etymology.  I  have  sometimes  amused  myself 
with  the  simplicity  and  harmony  of  particular  passages.  Nothing 
can  be  more  melodious  than  the  following,  which  yet  seems  to  be 
the  effect  of  accident  rather  than  of  art :  "  Man  that  is  born  of  a 
"  woman  is  of  few  days,  and  full  of  trouble.  He  cometh  forth  as  a 
*'  flower,  and  is  cut  down ;  he  fleeth  also  as  a  shadow,  and  con- 
"  tinueth  not."  Virgil  himself  would  not  versify  the  following 
passage,  for  fear  of  hurting  its  harmony ;  and  yet  every  word  is 
common,  and  there  is  not  the  least  appearance  of  art  in  the  com- 
position :  "  My  beloved  spake,  and  said  unto  me.  Rise  up,  my  love, 
*'  my  fair  one,  and  come  away.  For  lo,  the  winter  is  past,  the  raiu 
*'  is  over  and  gone.  The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth,  the  time  of 
"  the  singing  of  birds  is  come  ;  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard 
"  in  our  land.  The  fig-tree  putteth  forth  her  green  figs,  and  the 
"  vines  with  the  tender  grape  give  a  good  smell.  Arise,  my  love, 
"  my  fair  one,  and  come  away."  Our  critics  have  often  affirmed, 
that  the  English  tongue  derives  a  great  deal  of  its  harshness  from 
the  multitude  of  its  monosyllables  :  this  passage  may  serve  for  a 
proof  of  the  contrary ;  for  here  (if  I  reckon  right)  are  eighty  words, 
whereof  sixty-eight  are  monosyllables ;  and  yet  I  will  venture  to 
say,  that  the  Italian  language  itself  is  not  susceptible  of  greater 
sweetness.     Some  of  our  words  of  one  syllable  are  certainly  harsh, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  SOf 

as  which,  such,  scratch,  Sec ;  but  even  these  lose  a  great  part  of  their 
disagreeable  sound,  when  the  words  that  come  before  and  after 
them  are  properly  modulated. 

"  You  would  hear,  no  doubt,  of  the  death  of  Mr  Riddoch,  one  of 
the  ministers  of  our  English  chapel.  As  I  think  I  have  heard  you 
say,  that  you  liked  those  few  sermons  which  he  published  some 
years  ago,*  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  inform  you,  that  his  widow, 
whom  he  has  left  in  very  poor  circumstances,  intends  to  publish  two 
volumes  of  his  sermons  by  subscription,  and  has  asked  that  Dr 
Campbell  and  I  would  revise  the  manuscripts  ;  which,  considering 
her  distress,  and  his  merit  both  as  a  man  and  as  a  preacher,  we  did 
not  decline." 


LETTER  CXXXL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  27th  May,  1779. 

"  I  REJOICE  in  the  good  weathei',  in  the  belief  that  it  extends 
to  Glenfiddich  ;t  whei'e  I  pray  that  your  Grace  may  enjoy  all  the 
health  and  happiness  that  good  air,  goats'  whey,  romantic  solitude, 
and  the  society  of  the  loveliest  children  in  the  world,  can  bestow. 
May  your  days  be  clear  sunshine,  and  may  a  gentle  rain  give  balm 
to  your  nights,  that  the  flowers  and  birch-trees  may  salute  you  in 
the  morning  with  all  their  fragrance.     May  the  kids  frisk  and  play 

*  Six  occasional  Sermons  on  important  subjects,  by  James  Riddoch, 
A.  M.  one  of  the  ministers  of  St  Paul's  chapel,  Abei'deen,  published  in  1762. 
Tlie  two  first,  preached  on  New-year's  day,  are  peculiarly  excellent. 
Those  alluded  to  here,  which  Dr  Beattie  and  Dr  Campbell  had  the  good- 
ness to  revise  previous  to  their  publication,  were  printed  in  the  year  1782. 
They  are  plain,  pious,  practical,  and  useful  discourses,  which  may  be  pe» 
rused  with  advantage.  As  his  manner  in  the  pulpit  was  extremely  ener- 
getic, they  were  hstened  to  by  his  congregation  with  much  delight. 

f  A  hunting -seat  of  the  Duke  of  Gordon's  in  the  heart  of  the  Grampian 
mountains ;  a  wild,  but  beautiful,  sequestered  spot,  jjf  which  Dr  Beattie 
was  peculiarly  fond< 


308  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

tricks  before  you,  with  unusual  sprightliness  ;  and  may  the  song 
of  birds,  the  hum  of  bees,  and  the  distant  water-fall,  with  now  and 
then  the  shepherd's  horn  resounding  from  the  mountains,  entertain 
you  with  a  full  chorus  of  Hig:hland  music. 

"  My  imagination  had  parcelled  out  the  lorely  glen  into  a  thou- 
sand little  paradises  ;  in  the  hope  of  being  there,  and  seeing  every- 
day in  that  solitude,  what  is 

"  Fairer  than  famed  of  old,  or  fabled  since, 
"  Of  fairy  damsels,  met  in  forest  wide 
*'  By  errant  knights." 

But  the  information  you  received  at  Cluny  gave  a  check  to  my 
fancy,  and  was  indeed  a  great  disappointment  to  Mrs  Beattie  and 
me  ;  not  on  account  of  the  goats'  whey,  but  because  it  keeps  us  so 
long  at  such  a  distance  from  your  Grace." 


LETTER  CXXXII. 


»R  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  12th  June,  1779. 

"  YOU  are  extremely  welcome  to  as  many  copies  of  the 
Scotticisms  as  you  please  ;  I  shall  send  a  parcel  by  the  first  oppor- 
tunity. But  I  would  not  wish  the  pamphlet  to  be  exposed  to  the 
censure  of  critics,  who  know  not  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
persons  for  whose  use  it  was  intended.  I  printed  it  for  the  improve- 
ment of  those  young  men  only,  who  attend  my  lectures  ;  who  are 
generally  of  the  north  country,  and  many  of  whom  have  had  no 
opportunity  of  learning  English  from  the  company  they  kept.  To 
have  confined  myself,  therefore,  to  such  idioms  as  may  actually  be 
found  in  printed  books,  or  to  such  as  are  current  to  the  south  as 
Well  as  the  north  of  Scotland,  would  not  have  answered  my  pur- 
pose. There  are  in  the  list,  as  you  justly  observe,  some  phrases, 
which  are  not  often  heard  among  the  better  sort  of  our  people  ;  but 
in  this  country  they  are  in  fact  used  by  many  above  the  rank  of  the- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  3G9 

"Vulgar,  and  are  sometimes  mistaken  for  English,  because  they  may 
be  seen  in  English  books,  though  in  a  different  sense  :  such  is  mis- 
guide for  siUly^  ill  to  guide  for  ill  to  manage^  Sec.  Wrongous  and 
iniquous  are  very  common  among  Scottish  lawyers.  In  a  word,  I 
might  no  doubt  have  omitted  several  of  those  that  are  inserted ; 
and  would  probably  have  done  so,  if  I  had  not  known  by  expe- 
rience, that  phrase-books,  vocabularies,  and  dictionaries,  are  oftener 
faulty  from  defect  than  from  redundancy. 

"  Negatives  are  hard  to  prove,  especially  in  language.  A  good 
phrase  is  established  by  a  quotation  from  a  good  author  :  but  to  say 
of  a  phrase,  that  it  is  a  Scottish  idiom,  is  to  say,  that,  though  used  in 
Scotland,  it  occurs  not  in  any  English  writer  of  classical  authority  ; 
a  point,  which  in  many  cases,  it  will  be  no  easy  matter  to  evince. 
There  may  be  errors,  therefore,  in  my  pamphlet;  it  would  be 
strange  indeed  if  there  were  none  ;  but  it  may  have  its  use  for  all 
that.  Old  Dr  ******  *  used  to  tell  me,  that  he  formerly  be- 
longed to  a  club  in  Edinburgh  where  nothing  but  Latin  was 
spoken ;  and  that  when  appeals  were  made  to  Mr  Ruddiman,* 
(who  was  a  sort  of  oracle  among  them)  he  would  give  his  opinion 
very  readily  and  decisively,  when  he  tliought  the  Latin  good  ;  but 
was  slow  to  pronounce  concerning  any  phrases  which  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  Latin,  that  they  were  bad.  And  L  remember,  that 
Walker,  in  his  excellent  "  Treatise  on  English  Particles,"  makes 
a  remark  to  the  same  purpose,  and  gives  a  list  of  Latin  phrases 
from  the  best  authors,  which  one,  who  was  not  well  read  in  the 
classics,  would,  without  hesitation,  pronounce  to  be  Anglicisms." 


LETTER  CXXXIII. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FOTlBE§. 

Aberdeen,  ITth  Jane,  17T9. 

"  I  HAVE  been  reading  Johnson's  prefaces  to  the  Englisli 
edition  of  the  poets,  which  poor  Dilly  sent  me  in  exchange  for  the 
Edinburgh  edition.     There  are  many  excellent  things  in  the  prc- 

*  The  celebi-iited  gr.aminarian. 


310  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

faces,  particularly  in  the  lives  of  Milton,  Dryden  and  Waller.  He 
is  more  civil  to  Milton  than  I  expected,  though  he  hates  him  for  his 
blank  verse  and  his  politics.  To  the  forced  and  unnatural  conceits 
of  Cowley,  I  think  he  is  too  favourable  ;  and  I  heartily  wish,  that, 
instead  of  the  poems  of  this  poet,  which  are  printed  at  full  length, 
and  fill  two  large  volumes,  he  had  given  us  the  "  Fairy  Queen" 
of  Spepser,  which  is  left  out,  very  absurdly,  I  think.  He  has 
brought  his  lives  no  further  down  than  to  Hughes  ;  but  I  hear  he 
intends  to  give  the  remainder  as  soon  as  he  can." 


LETTER  CXXXIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON, 


Aberdeen,  22d  June,  1779. 

«  T  CONGRATULATE  your  Grace,  with  all  my  heart, 
on  the  safe  arrival  of  one  of  the  best  and  most  beautiful  boys  that 
ever  was  born.*  It  gave  me  the  most  sincere  pleasure  to  see  him 
so  well,  so  mindful  of  all  his  old  frends,  and  so  impatient  to  get  for- 
ward to  the  Glen.f 

"  And  here  your  Grace  will  pardon  me  for  expressing  a  wish, 
that  the  Marquis  were  attended  by  a  man  of  learning,  in  quality  of 
tutor,  as  well  as  by  Mr  S*******,  who  is,  to  be  sure,  in  every 
respect  but  one,  the  best  man  in  the  world  for  his  purpose.  Many 
an  English  clergyman  would,  with  transport,  resign  his  cure,  in 
order  to  undertake  so  pleasing  an  employment :  And  I  think  the 
tutor  ought  by  all  means  to  be  an  Englishman,  regularly  educated  j 
and  to  be  recommended  either  by  the  Archbishop  of  York,  or  by 
Dr  Barnard,  provost  of  Eton,  whom  I  look  upon  as  the  best  judges 
now  in  the  world  of  the  qualifications  requisite  in  a  teacher.  I  beg 
your  Grace  will  think  of  this. 

"  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  what  I  suffered  from  the  cruel 
necessity  which  compelled  me  to  decline  your  Grace's  invitation. 
My  regret  was  such,  and  the  cause  of  that  regret  is  so  great  a 

•  The  Marquis  of  Huntly.  f  Glenfiddich.    See  p.  307. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  31 1 

weight  on  my  spirits,  that  I  believe  even  Adam  Smith  himself,*  if 
he  were  to  know  it,  would  almost  pity  me.  Mrs  Beattie  has  been  a 
little  better  for  this  week  past ;  and  bids  me  say,  that  though  she  is 
obliged  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of  the  Glen  for  this  season,  she  still 
hopes  to  be  happy  in  Gordon-Castle  before  the  end  of  autumn.  She 
now  goes  out  once  a  day  in  a  chaise ;  but  if  the  airing  exceed  two 
miles  she  is  fatigued  with  it.  I  would  fain  hope,  that  when  she  is 
a  little  accustomed  to  this  exercise,  she  may  be  able  to  undertake  a 
little  journey,  which  I  am  sure  would  be  of  infinite  service  to  her. 

"  I  have  made  several  visits  of  late  to  the  Den  of  Rubislaw,t  and 
find  a  charm  in  it  which  I  was  never  sensible  of  before.  One  even- 
ing it  appeared  in  dreadful  majesty  ;  for  it  was  so  thick  a  fog,  that 
I  could  hardly  see  the  tops  of  the  trees,  or  even  of  the  cliffs  ;  and 
so  I  was  at  liberty  to  fancy  them  as  high  and  as  wild  as  I  pleased. 
But  the  more  I  indulge  myself  in  that  solitude,  the  more  I  regret 
my  distance  from  another,:}:  which  I  hear  is  admirable  for  the  beau- 
ties of  still  life,  and  of  which  I  know  how  much  it  excels  all  other 
solitudes  for  every  other  species  of  beauty.  I  still  flatter  myself 
with  the  hope  of  assisting,  one  time  or  other,  at  some  of  your 
Grace's  morning  lectures.  Pray  remember  your  promise  of 
sending  me  the  histoiy  of  a  day. 

"  1  have  a  little  story  to  tell  your  Grace,  and  a  favour  to  ask  ; 
which  will  give  you  the  trouble  of  another  letter  in  a  post  or  two." 

LETTER  CXXXV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  25th  June,  1779, 

"  AN  extraordinary  book  has  just  now  appeared  in  this  coun- 
try ;  but  before  I  say  any  thing  of  it,  I  must  trouble  you  with  a 
short  narrative. 

•  In  allusion  to  Dr  Smith's  doctrine  of  Sympathy. 

f  A  romantic,  woody  spot,  in  the  near  neig'hbourhood  of  Aberdeen  ;  to 
which  Dr  Beattie  delighted  to  retire,  in  order  to  indulge  in  silent  meditation. 

A  Den,  in  the  vernacular  lauguage  of  Scotland,  as  used  in  the  sense 
here  meant,  is  synonymous  with  what  in  England  is  called  a  Dingle. 

%  Glenfiddich. 


312  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  During  the  last  years  of  Mr  Hume's  life,  his  friends  gave  outj 
that  he  regretted  his  having  dealt  so  much  in  metaphysics,  and 
that  he  never  would  write  any  more.  He  was  at  pains  .to  dibuvow 
liis  "  Ti'eatise  of  Human  Nature,"  in  an  advertisement  which  he 
published  about  half  a  year  before  his  death.  All  this,  with  what 
I  then  heard  of  his  bad  health,  made  my  heart  relent  towards  him ; 
as  you  would  no  doubt  perceive  by  the  concluding  part  of  the  pre- 
face to  my  quarto  book.  But  immediately  after  his  death,  I  heard, 
that  he  had  left  behind  him  two  manuscripts,  with  strict  charge  that 
they  should  be  published  by  his  executors  ;  one,  the  "  History  of 
"  his  Life,"  and  the  other,  "  Dialogues  on  Natural  Religion." 
This  last  was  said  to  be  more  sceptical  than  any  of  his  other  writ- 
ings. Yet  he  had  employed  the  latter  part  of  his  life  in  preparing 
it.  The  copy  which  I  have,  was  sent  me  two  days  ago  by  my 
friend  and  neighbour  Dr  Campbell ;  than  whom  no  person  better 
understands  the  tendency  and  the  futility  of  Mr  Hume's  philosophy, 
and  who  accompanied  it  with  a  note  in  the  following  words  :  "  You 
"  have  probably  not  yet  seen  this  posthumous  performance  of 
"  David  Hume.  As  the  publisher,  with  whom  I  am  not  acquainted, 
"  has  favoured  me  with  a  copy,  I  have  sent  it  to  you  for  your  pe- 
"  rusal ;  and  shall  be  glad  to  have  your  opinion  of  it,  after  you 
"  have  read  it.  For  my  part,  I  think  it  too  dry,  and  too  meta- 
"  physical,  to  do  much  hurt ;  neither  do  I  discover  any  thing  new 
"  or  curious  in  it.  It  serves  but  as  a  sort  of  commentary  to  the 
"  '  Dialogues  on  Natural  Religion  and  Providence,'  published  in 
"  his  life  time.  What  most  astonishes  me  is,  the  zeal  which  this 
"  publication  shows  for  disseminating  those  sceptical  principles."* 

"  In  my  answer  to  Dr  Campbell's  note,  I  told  him,  that  I  was 
happy  to  find,  from  his  account,  that  the  book  was  not  likely  to  do 
much  harm  ;  that  I  would  acquiesce  in  his  judgment  of  it,  which  I 
was  persuaded  was  just ;  but  that  at  present  my  circumstances,  in 
regard  to  health  and  spirits,  would  not  permit  me  to  enter  upon  the 
study  of  it. 

"  Are  you  not  surprised,  madam,  that  any  man  should  con- 
clude his  life  (for  Mr  Hume  knew  he  was  dying)  with  preparing 

*  Dr  Campbell's  prediction,  as  to  the  fate  of  this  posthumous  work  of 
Mr  Hume's,  seems  to  have  been  completely  verified  ;  for  the  "  Dialogues 
*'  concerning  Natural  Religion"  are  now  never  heard  of. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  313 

axich  a  work  for  the  press  ?  Yet  Mr  Hume  must  have  known,  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  a  great  majority  of  his  readers,  his  i-easonings, 
in  regard  to  God  and  Providence,  M^ere  most  pernicious,  as  w^ell  as 
most  absurd.  Nay,  he  himself  seemed  to  tliink  them  dangerous. 
This  appears  from  the  following  fact,  which  I  had  from  Dr  Gre- 
gory. Mr  Hume  was  boasting  to  the  doctor,  that  among  his 
disciples  in  Edinburgh  he  had  the  honour  to  reckon  many  of  the 
fair  sex.  "  Now,  tell  me,"  said  the  doctor,  "  whether,  if  you  had 
"  a  wife  or  a  daughter,  you  would  ivish  tliem  to  be  your  disciples  ? 
"  Think  well  before  you  answer  me ;  for  I  assure  you,  that,  whatever 
"  your  answer  is,  I  will  not  conceal  it."  Mr  Hume,  with  a  smile, 
and  some  hesitation,  made  this  reply  :  "  No  ;  I  believe  scepticism 
"  may  be  too  sturdy  a  virtue  for  a  woman."  Miss  Gregory*  will 
certainly  remember,  that  she  has  heard  her  father  tell  this  story. 
How  different  is  Doctor  Gregory's  "  Legacy"!  to  Mr  Hume's! 

"  Do  me  the  favour,  madam,  to  let  me  know  that  you  are  well ; 
that  your  nephew  is  just  such  as  I  wish  him  to  be  ;  and  that  the 
Dutchess-dowager  of  Portland,  Mrs  Delany,  Mrs  Carter,  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  and  our  other  friends,  are  all  in  good  health.  I 
never  pass  a  day,  nor  (I  believe)  an  hour  of  the  day,  without  think- 
ing of  them,  and  wishing  them  all  imaginable  happiness.  Some 
times  I  flatter  myself  with  the  hope  of  seeing  you  ail  once  more 
before  I  die  ;  it  is  a  pleasing  thought ;  but, 

"  Shadows,  clouds,  and  darkness,  rest  upon  It." 

"  How  shall  I  thank  you,  madam,  for  all  your  goodness!  your 
refusal  to  accept  of  any  indemnification  for  the  expence  of  my 
advertisements  is  a  new  instance.  I  am  ashamed,  and  know  not 
what  to  say  :  Dii  tibi — et  mens  sibi  conscia  recti,  firamia  digna 
ft  rant." 


*  Daughter  of  the  late  Dr  John  Gregory.f  who,  at  the  date  of  this  letter, 
was  on  a  visit  at  Mrs  Montagu's.  Miss  Gregory  is  now  the  wife  of  my  re- 
spected friend,  the  Reverend  Mr  Alison.^ 

t  Dr  Gregory's  elegant  little  posthumous  work,  "  A  Father's  Legacy  to 
"  his  Daughters." 

t  See  PaseE4.  §  See  Page  135. 

2  R 


314  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

The  following  little  artiess  tale,  referred  to  in  a  former  letter, 
is  well  told,  and  does  credit  to  the  goodness  of  Dr  Beattie's  heart ; 
although,  unfortunately,  his  endeavours  to  serve  his  old  friend,  I 
beiievcj  proved  unsuccessful. 


LETTER  CXXXVI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  5th  July,  1779. 

"  I  NOW  sit  down  to  make  good  the  thi-eatening  denounced 
in  the  conclusion  of  a  letter,  which  I  had  the  honour  to  write  to 
your  Grace  about  ten  days  ago.  The  request  1  am  going  to  make 
I  should  preface  with  many  apologies,  if  I  did  not  know,  that  the 
personage  to  whom  I  address  myself  is  too  well  acquainted  with  all 
the  good  emotions  of  the  human  heart,  to  blame  the  warmth  of  a 
school-boy  attachment,  and  too  generous  to  think  the  worse  of  me 
for  wishing  to  assist  an  unfortunate  friend. 

"  Three  weeks  ago,  as  I  was  scribbling  in  my  garret,  a  man 
entered,  whom  at  first  I  did  not  know  ;  but,  on  his  desiring  me  to 
look  him  in  the  face,  I  soon  recollected  an  old  friend,  whom  I  had 
not  seen,  and  scarcely  heard  of,  these  twenty  years.  He  and  I 
lodged  in  the  same  house,  when  we  attended  the  school  of  Lau- 
rencekirk, in  the  year  1747.  I  was  then  about  ten  years  old,  and 
he  about  fifteen.  As  he  took  a  great  liking  to  me,  he  had  many 
opportunities  of  obliging  me  ;  having  much  more  knowledge  of 
the  world,  as  well  as  more  bodily  strength,  than  I.  He  was,  besides, 
an  ingenious  mechanic,  and  made  for  me  many  little  things  :  and 
it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  he  first  put  a  violin  in  my  hands,  and 
gave  me  the  only  lessons  in  music  I  ever  received.  Four  years 
after  this  period,  I  went  to  college,  and  he  engaged  in  farming. 
But  our  acquaintance  was  renewed  about  five  years  after,  when  I 
remember  he  made  me  the  confidant  of  a  passion  he  had  for  the 
greatest  beauty  in  that  part  of  the  country,  whom  he  soon  after- 
jnarritd. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  815 

*'  I  was  very  glad  to  see  my  old  friend  so  unexpectedly  ;  and 
we  talked  over  many  old  stories,  which,  though  interesting  to  us, 
would  have  given  little  pleasure  to  any  body  else.  But  my  satis- 
faction was  soon  changed  to  regret,  when,  upon  inquiring  into  the 
particulars  of  his  fortune  during  these  twenty  years,  I  found  he  had 
been  very  unsuccessful.  His  farming  projects  had  miscarried ;  and, 
happening  to  give  some  offence  to  a  young  woman,  who  was  called 
the  housekeeper  of  a  gentleman  on  whom  he  depended,  she  swore 
she  would  be  revenged,  to  his  ruin  ;  and  was  as  good  as  her  word. 
He  satisfied  his  creditors,  by  giving  them  all  his  substance  ;  and, 
retiring  to  a  small  house  in  Johns-haven,*  made  a  shift  to  support 
his  family  by  working  as  a  joiner  ;  a  trade  which,  when  a  boy,  he 
had  picked  up  for  his  amusement.  But  a  consumptive  complaint 
overtook  him ;  and  though  he  got  the  better  of  it,  he  has  never 
since  been  able  to  do  any  thing  that  requires  labour,  and  can  now 
only  make  fiddles,  and  some  such  little  matters,  for  which  there  is 
no  great  demand  in  the  place  where  he  lives.  He  told  me,  he  had 
come  to  Aberdeen  on  purpose  to  put  me  in  mind  of  our  old  acquain- 
tance, and  see  whether  I  could  do  any  thing  for  him.  I  asked,  in 
what  respect  he  wished  me  to  seiwe  him.  He  would  do  any  thing, 
he  said,  for  his  family,  that  was  not  dishonourable :  and,  on  pressing 
him  a  little  further,  I  found,  that  the  height  of  his  ambition  was  to 
be  a  tide-waiter,  a  land-waiter,  or  an  officer  of  excise.  I  told  him, 
it  was  particularly  unlucky,  that  I  had  not  the  least  influence,  or 
even  acquaintance,  with  any  one  commissioner,  either  of  the  excise 
or  customs  :  but,  as  I  did  not  care  to  discourage  him,  1  promised 
to  think  of  his  case,  and  to  do  what  I  could.  I  have  since  seen  a 
clergyman,  who  knows  my  friend  very  well,  and  describes  his  con^ 
dition  as  still  more  forloi'n  than  he  had  I'epresented  it. 

"  It  is  in  behalf  of  this  poor  man,  that  I  now  venture  to  implore 
your  Grace's  advice  and  assistance.  I  am  well  aware,  that,  though 
his  case  is  very  interesting  to  me,  there  is  nothing  extraordinary 
in  it;  and  that  your  Grace  must  often  be  solicited  for  others  in  like 
circumstances.  It  is,  therefore,  with  the  utmost  reluctance,  that  I 
have  taken  this  liberty.  If  your  Grace  thinks,  that  an  application 
from  me  to  Mr  Baron  Gordon  might  be  sufficient  to  procure  one 
of  the  offices  in  question  for  my  friend,  I  would  not  wish  you  to 

•  A  small  fishing'  town  in  the  county  of  Kincardine, 


316  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

have  any  trouble  ;  but  if  my  application  were  enforced  by  yours, 
it  would  have  a  better  chance  to  succeed.  This,  however,  1  do  not 
request,  if  it  is  not  so  easy  to  your  Grace,  as  to  be  almost  a  matter 
of  indifference. 

*'  By  the  first  convenient  opportunity  I  hope  to  send  your  Grace 
a  sort  of  curiosity, — four  elegant  Pastorals,  by  a  Quaker; — not  one 
of  our  Quakers  of  Scotland,  but  a  true  English  Quaker,  who  says 
thee  and  thou^  and  comes  into  a  room,  and  sits  down  in  company, 
without  taking  off  his  hat.  For  all  this,  he  is  a  very  worthy  man, 
an  elegant  scholar,  a  cheerful  companion,  and  a  particular  friend 
of  mine.  His  name  is  John  Scott  of  Amwell,  near  Ware,  Hert- 
fordshire, where  he  lives  in  an  elegant  retirement,  (for  his  fortune 
is  very  good) ;  and  has  dug  in  a  chalk-hill,  near  his  house,  one  of 
the  most  curious  grottos  I  have  ever  seen.  As  it  is  only  twenty 
miles  from  London,  I  would  recommend  it  to  your  Grace,  when 
you  are  tliere,  as  worth  going  to  visit.  Your  Grace  will  be  pleased 
with  his  Pastorals,  not  only  on  account  of  their  morality  and  sweet 
versification,  but  also  for  their  images  and  descriptions,  which  are 
a  very  exact  picture  of  the  groves,  woods,  waters,  and  windmills, 
of  that  part  of  England  where  he  resides." 

LETTER  CXXXVII. 

MRS  MONTAGU  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Sandleford,  20tb  July,  ir/Q. 

"  I  ALWAYS  consider  your  letters  as  a  favour;  and  when 
they  brought  a  good  account  of  your  and  MrsBeattie's  health,  they 
gave  me  the  highest  pleasure.  I  can  only  say,  that  with  your  last  I 
felt  the  most  sincere  and  tender  sympathy,  and  daily  pour  forth  the 
warmest  wishes  for  her  speedy  recovery. 

"  I  will  now  give  you  s6me  account  of  myself:  I  went  to  Bath 
the  middle  of  April,  and,  with  great  benefit  to  my  health,  drank  the 
waters  above  six  weeks.  A  winter  season  in  London,  and  a  spring 
season  at  Bath,  bring  on  a  weariness  of  the  bustle  of  society ;  and 
I  wus  glad  to  pass  the  month  of  June  in  the  sober,  cheerful  tran- 
quillity of  Sandleford.     But  in  this  working-day-world  one  can 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  Sir 

have  but  few  holidays  ;  the  house  I  am  building,  and  an  estate  I 
am  purchasing,  created  many  occasions  for  my  going  to  London  ; 
to  the  busy  world,  thei'efore,  business  brought  me  back,  and  from 
thence  I  am  but  just  returned  to  peace,  and  sunshine,  and  the 
rural  joys  of  July.  The  animated  scene  of  hay-making  is  very 
delightful  to  me ;  and  I  passed  my  mornings  in  the  grove,  to  con- 
template the  gay  labour  of  the  hay-makers,  who,  to  the  number  of 
forty,  of  different  ages  and  sexes,  were  ail  busy  in  the  field  below  me. 
The  men  were  gay,  the  women  chattering,  and  the  boys  and  girls 
sporting  and  playing  amidst  their  work  ;  so  that  labour  seemed 
rather  a  brisk  exertion  than  a  painful  task.  The  reapers'  employ- 
ment is  more  serious  and  more  laborious,  as  if,  the  nearer  the  ap- 
proach to  wealth,  the  less  gay  the  condition  ;  their  wages  are 
greater  than  those  of  the  hay-makers,  but  the  occupation  is  not  so 
delightful,  nor  performed  with  such  careless  ease  ;  and  is  it  not  the 
same  in  the  business  of  civil  life  ?  At  this  juncture,  particularly,  I 
think  the  highest  ofhces  in  our  state  must  be  the  most  laborious, 
and  full  of  seriousness  and  care.  Public  danger  used  to  beget  pub- 
lic union  ;  but  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  our  leaders  of  faction  have 
not  seemed  to  forget  their  private  objects  for  the  general  interest. 
This  summer  will  probably  bring  very  important  events  to  Eng- 
land. Daily  rumours  of  invasion,  in  some  part  or  other  of  our 
country,  seem  very  alarming  to  ears,  unaccustomed  to  such  re- 
ports ;  but  if  the  chastisements  of  Heaven  will  restore  those  vir- 
tues, which  prosperity  seems  to  have  impaired,  such  corrections 
must  be  reckoned  amongst  the  favours  of  Providence.  Resigna- 
tion to  Divine  Wisdom  and  Omnipotence  becomes  creatures,  not 
only  weak,  but  blind ;  so  I  endeavour  to  keep  my  mind  in  tran- 
quillity. 

"  I  am  very  glad  you  were  pleased  with  Mr  Potter's  "  Es- 
"  chylus."  I  think  he  has  made  a  great  addition  to  the  English 
literature.  At  my  request  he  has  since  added  some  notes,  which 
I  will  send  you  if  you  have  not  got  them.  He  is  very  cautious 
in  explaining  ancient  mythology ;  I  wished  he  had  given  his 
conjectures  on  the  allegory  of  Prometheus.  Mr  Potter  is  now 
translating  "  Euripides  ;"  and,  if  he  succeed  as  well  as  in  the 
other  translation,  the  world  will  owe  him  a  great  deal ;  and  I 
heartily  wish,  that,  in  some  shape,  it  would  pay  him  part  of  the 
debt;  he  is  a  man  of  great  merit,  small  preferment  and  lareg 


318  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

family.     I  hear  of  few  new  works  to  come  forth ;  in  the  din  of 
arms,  not  only  the  laws  but  the  muses  are  silent. 

"  I  cannot  conclude  my  letter,  without  exhorting  you  to  collect 
together  those  things  you  have  written  for  the  young  people  who 
attend  your  lectures.  I  am  convinced  they  would  be  useful  to  the 
world,  and  much  approved  by  it,  if  you  would  publish  them.  In 
all  your  essays  there  is  much  to  be  learnt ;  observations  and  de- 
ductions perfectly  new,  and  at  the  same  time  just.  With  such 
conditions,  I  account  essays  to  be  pleasant  and  profitable  ;  but  n'ost 
essay-writers  give  mere  common-place  observations,  and  a  great 
deal  of  trite  matter." 


LETTER  CXXXVIIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MAJOR  MERCER. 


Aberdeen,  1st  October,  1779. 

"  I  BETOOK  myself  to  the  reading  of  Cxsar  when  I  was  at 
Peterhead,  for  I  happened  to  have  no  other  book.  I  had  forgot  a 
great  deal  of  him  ;  and  scarce  remembered  any  thing  more  than 
the  opinion  which  I  formed  of  his  style  about  twenty-five  years  ago. 
But  when  I  began,  I  found  it  almost  impossible  to  leave  off.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  historical  style  more  perfect ;  and  his  transac- 
tions are  a  complete  contrast  to  the  military  affairs  of  these  times. 
I  know  not  which  of  his  talents  I  should  most  admire :  his  inde- 
fatigable activity  and  perseverance ;  his  intrepidity  and  presence  of 
mind,  which  neverfail  him  even  for  a  moment;  his  address  as  a 
politician;  his  ability  as  a  commander,  in  which  he  seems  to  me 
to  have  no  equal ;  or  the  beauty,  brevity,  clearness,  and  modesty,  of 
his  narrative.  I  understand  all  his  battles  as  well  as  if  I  had  seen 
them  :  and,  in  half  a  sentence,  he  explains  to  me  the  grounds  and 
occasions  of  a  war,  more  fully  than  a  modern  historian  could  do  in 
fifty  pages  of  narrative,  and  as  many  more  of  dissertation.  In  a 
word,  as  the  world  at  that  time  stood  in  need  of  an  absolute  sove- 
reign, I  am  clearly  of  opinion,  that  he  should  have  been  the  person. 
Pompey  was  a  vain  coxcomb,  who,  because  a  wrong-headed  faction 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  319 

had  given  him  the  title  of  Magnus,  foolishly  thought  himself  the 
greatest  of  men ;  Cassius  was  a  malecontent,  and  a  mere  dema- 
gogue ;  and  Brutus  was  the  dupe  of  a  surly  philosophy,  operating 
upon  an  easy  temper.  I  ask  paixlon  for  troubling  you  with  this, 
which  you  understand  so  much  better  than  I  do :  but  I  am  quite 
full  of  Cxsar  at  present ;  and  you  know,  "  what  is  nearest  the 
''^  heart  is  nearest  the  mouth." 


LETTER  CXXXIX. 


SR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS,  BISHOP  OF  CHESTER. 


Aberdeen,  17th  December,  1779. 

"  ABOUT  three  months  ago,  a  lady,  who  is  a  great  admirer 
of  Bishop  Butler,  put  into  my  hands  a  manuscript-charge  of  that 
excellent  prelate  to  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Durham.  If  it  is 
not  in  his  printed  works,  I  doubt  whether  it  was  ever  published  ; 
but  no  person,  who  is  acquainted  with  Butler's  manner,  could  read 
half  a  page  without  being  satisfied  that  it  is  genuine.  I  was  so  well 
pleased  with  it,  that  I  had  thoughts  of  printing  it  in  a  small  pamph- 
let ;  but  domestic  troubles  have  so  disconcerted  me,  that  I  am 
hardly  capable  of  any  thing.  If  your  Lordship  is  curious  to  see  it, 
I  believe  I  could  easily  procure  a  MS.  copy.  Let  me  again  make 
it  my  request,  that  you  wo\ild  collect  all  your  printed  pieces,  and 
give  them  to  the  world  in  one  publication. 

"  I  think  I  told  your  Lordship  in  my  last,  that  in  order  to  keep 
my  mind  from  preying  upon  itself,  and  to  give  it  a  sufficiency  of 
such  employment  as  would  amuse  the  fancy,  Avithout  affecting  the 
heart,  I  had  resolved  to  finish  a  grammatical  treatise,  which  I  began 
some  considei'able  time  ago.  It  is  now  finished,  and  makes  one  of 
my  largest  treatises.  It  consists  of  two  parts  ;  the  first,  "  On  the 
"  Origin  and  General  Nature  of  Speech  ;"  the  second,  "  On  Uni- 
"  versal  Grammar."  I  have  drawn  a  good  deal  of  information  from 
Mr  Harris's  "  Hermes,"  and  Lord  Monboddo  on  "  Language ;" 
but  my  plan  and  my  sentiments  differ  in  many  particulars  from 


320  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIi:. 

both.  Monboddo's  partiality  to  the  Epicurean  hypothesis  of  the 
origin  of  language  and  society,  ~  - 

*'  Cmn  prorepserunt  primis  animalia  tents, "  isfc. 

I  thought  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  animadvert  upon  ;  and  I  hope 
I  have  shown  that  it  is  ill  founded. 

"  I  have  never  seen  Lord  Monboddo's  "  Ancient  Metaphysics." 
He  and  I  have  long  been  particularly  acquainted.  Formerly  we 
used  to  disagree  a  little  on  the  subject  of  religion ;  but  I  hear  he. 
has  become  more  cautious  on  that  head.  He  curries  his  admiration 
of  Aristotle,  and  the  abstruser  parts  of  the  Greek  philosophy,  to  a 
degree  of  extravagance  that  is  hardly  credible.  Herodotus  is  his 
favourite  historian  ;  and  so  far  is  he  from  thinking,  with  the  rest  of 
the  world,  that  he  is  credulous,  that  he  seems  to  think  him  infalli- 
ble in  all  matters  which  he  says  he  had  an  opportunity  of  inquiring 
into.  He  believes  in  the  existence  of  satyrs,  and  men  with  the 
heads  of  dogs,  and  other  Egyptian  monsters  :  and  he  and  I  hav6 
had  many  a  controversy  concerning  men  with  tails,  whom  he  firmly 
believes  to  exist,  not  only  in  the  islands  of  Nicobar  in  tlie  Gull  of 
Bengal,  but  even  in  this  country.  He  holds,  that  men  are  natu- 
rally cannibals  ;  from  which  he  infers,  that  man  is  not  by  nature  a 
social  animal.  The  Lacedemonian  government  and  discipdne  he 
admires  beyond  that  of  all  other  nations.  Whether  he  justifies  their 
conduct  towards  the  Helots,  I  do  not  remember  ;  but  I  have  heard 
him  seriously  maintain,  that  slavery  is  the  state  that  is  most  proper 
for  peasants,  and  that  they  and  the  cattle  ought  to  be  annexed  to  the 
soil,  and  bought  and  sold  along  with  it.  He  considers  Horace  as  a 
philosopher,  and  Virgil  as  a  good  poet :  but  his  opinion  of  Latin 
literature  is  but  low  at  best ;  for  I  have  heard  him  say,  that,  if  we 
except  the  Roman  law,  there  is  hardly  anything  in  the  Latin  tongue 
that  merits  preservation. 

"  Notwithstanding  these  strange  peculiarities  of  opinion,  some 
of  which  are  the  objects  of  laughter  rather  than  censure.  Lord 
Monboddo  is  an  honest,  worthy,  and  friendly  man,  indulgent  to  his 
servants,  and  kind  to  his  tenants  ;  an  elegant  speaker,  agreeable 
and  jocose  in  conversation,  and  perfectly  well  bred.  Mr  Harris's 
"  Hermes"  first  set  him  upon  studying  the  Greek  ;  and  it  unluckily 
directed  him  to  the  most  insignificant  part  of  ancient  learning, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  32  i 

"  The  Analytics  and  Metaphysics"  of  Aristotle;  which  he  has 
studied  so  long,  that  I  believe  he  is  now  seriously  of  opinion,  that 
nothino:  else  deserves  to  be  studied." 


There  is  something  extremely  affecting  in  the  tender  solicitude 
which,  in  the  following  letter,  Dr  Beattie  expresses  concernmg  the 
education  and  future  fortunes  of  his  sons,  at  a  time  when  he  appre- 
hended that  he  had  not  long  to  live.  Little  did  he  then  suspect 
that  he  would  have  the  misfortune  to  survive  them  both. 


LETTER  CXL. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  18th  January,  1780. 

"  IN  my  present  condition,  it  is  natural  for  me  to  think  what 
is  likely  to  befal  my  family,  when  I  leave  it.  The  affairs  I  have  to 
settle  are  not  extensive  or  complex :  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to 
give  you  some  concern  in  them. 

"  About  a  month  ago,  I  executed  a  deed,  with  all  the  necessary 
formalities  ;  in  which  I  named  you,  my  dear  sir,  with  some  other 
fiiends,  tutors  and  curators  for  my  two  boys.  I  ought,  no  doubt, 
to  have  informed  you  of  this  sooner;  but  I  know  you  will  excuse 
me.  This  deed  I  consider  as  the  most,  and  indeed  as  the  only, 
material  part  of  my  settlements.  It  is  scarce  necessary  for  one  to 
make  a  will,  who  wishes  his  children  to  be  on  an  equal  footing,  in 
regard  to  inheritance ;  and  whose  property  consists  chiefly  in  a  little 
money  and  some  moveables.  I  hope  I  shall  leave  them  what  may 
keep  them  from  being  a  burden  on  any  body,  and  what,  with  strict 
economy,  may  afford  them  the  means  of  an  education  somewhat 
better  than  I  received  myself.  Friends  may  be  necessary  to  help 
them  forward  a  little  in  the  world ;  and  I  trust  in  Providence,  that 
those  will  not  be  wanting.  Will  you  indulge  me  in  the  freedom  of 
Baying  a  word  or  two  more  on  this  subject  ? 

2s' 


322  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  My  first  wish,  in  regard  to  my  two  boys,  is,  that  they  may  be 
good  Christians,  and,  in  one  way  or  another,  useful  in  society.  Of 
the  younger  I  can  say  nothing,  as  I  know  not  his  character.  The 
elder  is  much  addicted  to  learning,  of  a  good  temper,  and  excellent 
capacity  ;  but  his  constitution  is  delicate,  and  I  do  not  think  him 
made  for  the  bustle  of  life.  I  have,  therefore,  had  thoughts  of  get- 
ting him  appointed,  Avhen  he  comes  to  be  of  age,  my  assistant  and 
successor ;  provided  he  himself  should  then  have  no  objection  to 
that  way  of  life :  and,  from  my  experience  in  teaching,  the  care  I 
meant  to  take  of  his  education,  and  the  farrago  of  papers  which  I 
have  got  together  on  moral  subjects,  I  flattered  myself,  that  I  might 
make  him  enter  upon  that  employment  in  a  way  creditable  to  him- 
self, and  not  unprofitable  to  society  :  But  this  plan  could  not  be 
brought  to  bear  these  eight  or  nine  years  ;  and  I  cannot  hope  for 
so  long  a  life.  Besides,  I  have  observed,  that  plans  laid  so  early 
for  children  are  seldom  or  never  made  effectual.  The  church  is  a 
scene  of  business  still  more  tranquil  than  mine  ;  and  that,  I  pre- 
sume, would  not  be  disagreeable  to  him.  But  this  is  mere  conjec- 
ture. 

"  Be  assured,  that  it  would  do  me  great  good,  if  I  could  flatter 
myself  with  the  hope  of  visiting  Edinburgh  in  the  spring,  and  giv- 
ing you  the  charge  of  my  person  and  papers  ;  not  to  mention  the 
pleasure  I  should  take  in  seeing  my  friends  (of  which  I  need  not 
give  them  any  assurances).  I  am  sensible,  that  I  have  already 
lived  too  long  in  solitude ;  too  long,  I  mean,  for  one  who  loves  soci- 
ety and  cheerfulness,  as  I  do  and  always  have  done.  No  hermit 
lives  more  constant  to  his  cave  than  I  have  done  to  my  house  for 
these  eighteen  months.  The  smallness  of  my  house,  and  the  deli- 
cacy of  Mrs  B.'s  nerves,  which  cannot  bear  the  least  noise,  will  not 
allow  me  to  have  any  company  with  me ;  and  the  consequence  is, 
that  there  are  only  two  houses  in  the  town  to  which  I  am  ever  in- 
vited. In  fact,  I  have  not  dined  abroad  more  than  twice  these  three 
months.  Now  that  I  am  able  to  go  to  the  college  again,  my  busi- 
ness there  gives  me  some  amusement  through  the  day;  but  all  the 
long  evening  I  sit  alone,  trying  sometimes  to  read  and  sometimes 
to  write,  except  now  and  then  when  I  give  my  son  a  lesson  in  Vir- 
gil. This  must  in  the  end  have  very  bad  effects  upon  my  health 
and  spirits  ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  no  wonder  that  I  long  to  be  from 
home,  and  to  sojourn  for  some  little  time  in  a  land  of  friendship. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  323 

tranquillity,  and  cheerfulness.  My  first  excursion  (if  I  ever  make 
any)  must  be  to  Gordon  Castle. 

"  The  "  Grammatical  Treatise,"  which  I  told  you  of,  is  finished. 
It  is  one  of  the  longest,  and  not  one  of  the  worst,  of  my  dissertations. 
I  have  also  written,  since  you  were  here,  "  Remarks  on  Sublimity," 
being  a  sort  of  counter  part  to  those  on  "  Laughter:"  but  I  am  not 
quite  pleased  with  this,  nor  has  it  received  my  last  hand.  I  believe 
I  shall  next  set  about  finishing  what  I  formerly  threw  together  on 
"  Romance-writing  and  Chivalry  ;"  not  because  it  is  important,but 
because  it  is  amusing,  and  will  require  no  deep  study.  It  is  pretty 
long  too;  and,  in  my  dull  jog-trot  way,  will  be  an  object  to  me  for 
at  least  two  months.  In  a  word,  my  posthumous  works  (for  post- 
humous I  believe  I  may  call  them)  will  soon  be  as  voluminous  as 
those  I  have  printed.  I  must  be  transcribing  one  or  other  of  my 
old  scrawls;  and  when  one  transcribes,  one  enlarges  and  corrects 
insensibly.  For  I  cannot  think ;  I  am  too  much  agitated  and  dis- 
trait (as  Lord  Chesterfield  would  say)  to  read  any  thing  that  is  not 
very  desultory ;  I  cannot  play  at  cards  ;  I  could  never  learn  to 
smoke  ;  and  my  musical  days  are  over. 

"  It  gives  me  great  pain  to  hear  of  the  fate  of  poor  Cooke.  I 
lately  read  his  voyage  for  the  second  time  ;  and  considered  him  not 
only  as  an  excellent  writer,  an  able  philosopher,  and  the  most  con- 
summate navigator  that  ever  lived,  but  also  as  a  person  of  the 
greatest  magnanimity,  modesty,  and  humanity.  He  was  indeed 
one  of  my  greatest  favourites ;  and  I  look  upon  his  death  as  an  irre- 
parable loss  to  his  country  and  to  mankind." 


LETTER  CXLL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON'. 

Aberdeen,  31st  January,  1780. 

"  WITH  this  you  will  receive  a  packet  containing  two 
"  Mirrors,"*  which  are  just  come  to  hand,  and  which  I  send  sepa- 

*  A  periodical  paper  with  that  title,  published  at  Edinburgh  at  this  time. 
For  some  account  of  which,  and  of  the  "  Loupger,"  see  the  Appendix,  [DD  ] 


324  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

rate  from  the  rest,  (whereof  I  have  now  a  considerable  parcel)  be- 
cause your  Grace  will  probably  guess  the  author.  I  had  no  ambi- 
tion to  view  myself  in  any  of  these  folio  looking-glasses  ;  but,  as  the 
publisher  had  sent  me  a  set  from  the  beginning,  and  told  me  that 
he  would  have  no  returns  but  in  kind,  and,  as  I  had  never  refused 
the  terms,  I  thought  myself  bound  in  a  sort  of  debt  of  honour,  which 
I  endeavoured  to  pay  with  some  detached  thoughts  "  On  Dream- 
"  ing."  It  is  a  subject  which  I  ought  to  understand  as  well  as  other 
people  ;  for  I  believe  I  have  dreamed  as  much,  both  sleeping  and 
waking,  as  most  men  of  my  age.  Your  Grace  will  observe,  that 
the  subject  is  not  concluded,  as  I  have  not  yet  got  time  to  transcribe 
the  last  part.  The  foolish  gasconade  at  the  top  of  the  first,  is  an 
addition  by  the  printer.  I  shall  be  happy  if  you  find  any  thing 
tolerable  in  these  two  papers,  to  indemnify  you  for  the  dulness  of 
this,  which  indeed  I  write  under  very  unfavourable  circumstances, 
— rheumatism,  east-wind,  shivering,  a  confused  head,  an  aching 
heart,  &c." 


LETTER  CXLIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  19th  March,  1780. 

"  AS  I  sincerely  sympathized  with  your  Grace  on  the  occasion 
of  your  late  uneasiness,  it  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  I  now  send 
my  congratulations  on  the  good  news  from  Rodney ;  by  which  you 
will  see,  that  your  brother's  laurels,  instead  of  being,  as  you  appre- 
hended, stained  with  blood,  are  decorated  with  gold.  For  the  sake  of 
your  Grace,  as  well  as  of  his  country,  I  pray,  that  the  same  success 
may  attend  him  wherever  he  goes  ;  and  that  your  tenderness  and 
anxiety  may  soon  receive  their  full  reward  in  his  safe  return. 
When  I  consider  the  life  that  those  lead  who  are  engaged  in  the 
service  of  their  country,  the  busy  and  merry  faces  with  which  they 
are  continually  surrounded,  and  those  tumultuous  hopes,  and  that 
bustle  of  employment,  which  keep  their  minds  and  bodies  in  con- 
stant exercise,  I  cannot  but  think  their  state  much  more  enviable. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  S25 

than  that  of  the  affectionate  friend,  whom  they  leave  behind  them 
at  full  liesure  to  magnify  and  nmltiply  all  their  real  dangers,  and 
to  imagine  a  thousand  others  that  will  never  have  any  reality. 

"  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  your  (irace  for  the  little  novel  with 
the  great  name.  At  the  first  reading  I  did  not  thoroughly  under- 
stand it ;  but  at  the  second  I  liked  it  well :  and  I  agree  with  your 
Grace,  that  the  author  shows  a  capacity  for  much  better  things. 
There  is  something  waggish  enough,  as  well  as  uncommon,  in  the 
moral.  But,  in  the  preface,  there  are  some  thoughts  and  expres- 
sions not  quite  so  feminine  as  I  could  have  wished.  "  Read  my 
"  book^  or  go  hang  ijoiirself"  is  not  like  the  language  of  a  fair  lady  ; 
any  more  than  what  she  says  about  being  drenched  in  Mr  Wal- 
pole's  champaign: — But  perhaps  she  wished  it  to  be  thought  a 
masculine  performance.* 

"  I  am  happy  that  your  Grace  approves  of  my  treatise  "  On 
"  Dreaming."  The  publisher  has  never  expressed  any  desire  to 
have  the  sequel,  and  therefore  I  have  not  sent  it.  I  suspect  he 
may  think  it  too  serious  for  his  paper.  Your  Grace  seems  to 
think,  that  I  should  avow  more  faith  in  dreams,  if  I  thought  it  for 
the  good  of  mankind  that  they  should  be  believed.  I  confess  there 
is  something  in  this  :  and,  as  a  proof,  I  beg  leave  to  transcribe  the 
concluding  paragraph : 

"  To  conclude :  Providence  certainly  superintends  the  affairs 
"  of  men ;  and  often,  we  know  not  how  often,  interposes  for  our 
"  preservation.  It  would  therefore  be  presumptuous  to  affirm 
"  that  supernatural  cautions,  in  I'egard  to  futurity,  are  never 
"  communicated  in  dreams.  The  design  of  this  discourse  is, 
"  not  to  contradict  any  authentic  experience,  or  historical  fact, 
"  but  only  to  show,  that  dreams  may  proceed  from  a  variety  of 
"  causes  which  have  nothing  supernatural ;  that  our  waking 
"  thoughts  are  often  equally  unaccountable ;  that,  therefore,  a 
"  superstitious  attention  to  the  former  is  not  less  absurd,  than 
"  a  like  attention  to  the  latter  would  be:  and  that,  though  we  are 
"  not  much  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  this  wonderful  mode  of 
"  perception,  we  know  enough  of  it  to  see,  that  it  is  not  useless  or 

*  I  presume  tlie  novel  Dr  Beattie  liere  alludes  to,  is  one  wliicli,  though 
puhlislied  anonymously,  M as  understood  to  be  written  by  Lady  Craven,  now 
Margravine  of  Anspacli. 


326  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  superfluous ;  but  may,  on  the  contrary,  answer  some  purposes  of 
"  great  importance  to  our  welfare,  both  in  soul  and  body."* 

"  In  the  course  of  my  walks,  I  straggled  the  other  day  in- 
to the  Den  of  Rubislaw:  But,  whether  it  was  owing  to  the  stormy 
weather,  or  to  the  gloom  of  my  own  thoughts,  I  soon  found  it  was 
not  a  fit  place  for  me  at  that  time.  Instead  of  sighing  and  mur- 
muring, the  naked  trees  seemed  to  roar  in  the  wind,  and  the  black 
stream  to  rumble  and  growl  through  the  rocks ;  and  therefore,  as 
I  did  not  wish  to  detain  even  the  idea  of  your  Grace  in  so  dreary  a 
wilderness,  I  made  haste  to  leave  it.  Two  months  hence  it  will 
be  more  pleasing,  and,  it  is  possible,  I  may  then  be  more  capable 
of  being  pleased." 


LETTER  CXLIII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  11th  April,  1780. 

"  I  AM  glad  that  you  approve  of  my  criticism  on  the  inscrip- 
tion for  the  burying-ground.  It  would  still,  as  you  say,  be  more 
classical,  if  it  were  shorter;  but,  '■^  in  sfie  beats  resurrecdonis  fier 
"  Christum^'*  ought  not  to  be  expunged.  Classical  writings  arc 
good ;  but  the  Christian  faith  is  much  better :  and  (to  adopt  the 
words  of  Addison  a  little  varied)  "  I  should  be  sorry  to  sacrifice  my 
"  catechism  to  my  latinity."  The  epitaph  on  Franklin  I  had  seen 
before  :  it  is  not  at  all  amiss. 

"  I  have,  since  the  college  broke  up,  been  hard  at  work 
upon  Mr  Riddoch's  manuscript  sermons ;   but  I  have  only  got 

*  What  Dr  Beattie  intended  as  a  third  number  of  a  "  Mirror"  on 
"  Dreaming,"  was  not  printed  when  that  paper  was  published  in  single 
numbers.  But  it  was  added  as  a  sequel  to  the  seventy -fourth  paper,  when 
the  "  Mirror"  was  afterwards  reprinted  in  volumes.  They  who  wish  to  see 
more  on  this  mysterious,  and,  may  I  be  permitted  to  add,  unintelligible 
faculty  of  dreaming,  may  consult  Professor  Dugald  Stewart's  very  ingenious 
dissersation  on  the  subject  in  his  •'  Elements  of  the  Philosophy  of  the  Hu- 
man Mind."t 

t  Chap.  V.  sect.  v.  p.  3W. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  327 

through  five  of  them,  and  there  are  still  five-and-twenty  before  me. 
Never  did  I  engage  in  a  more  troublesome  business.  There  is 
not  a  sentence,  there  is  hardly  a  line,  that  does  not  need  correction. 
This  is  owing  partly  to  the  extreme  inaccuracy  of  the  writing,  but 
chiefly  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  style  ;  an  endiess  string  of  cli- 
maxes ;  the  involution  of  clauses  within  clauses ;  the  unmeasura- 
ble  length  of  the  sentences ;  and  such  a  profusion  of  superfluous 
words,  as  I  have  never  before  seen  in  any  composition.  To  cure 
all  these  diseases  is  impossible.  I  must  be  satisfied  with  alle- 
viating some  of  the  worst  symptoms  :  yet,  to  do  my  old  friend  jus- 
tice, I  must  confess,  that  the  sermons  have  in  many  places  great  ener- 
gy, and  even  eloquence,  and  abound  in  shrewd  remarks,  and  strik- 
ing sentiments.*  They  are  gloomy  indeed ;  and  will  suggest  to 
those  who  never  saw  the  author,  what  is  really  true,  that  in  preach- 
ing he  always  had  a  frown  on  his  countenance.  He  seldom  seeks 
to  draw  with  the  cords  of  love,  or  with  the  bands  of  a  man:  his 
motto  should  be,  "  Knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  we  persuade 
men."  Both  methods  are  good  in  their  season  ;  but  the  former  is, 
if  I  mistake  not,  most  consonant  to  the  practice  of  our  Saviour  and 
his  Apostles,  as  well  as  to  that  of  the  English  divines,  who,  I  think, 
are  the  best  of  all  modern  preachers. 

"  This  puts  me  in  mind  of  a  passage  in  my  friend  the  Bishop 
of  Chester's  last  letter,  which  I  know  you  will  be  glad  to  see :  "  I 
"  am  glad  to  find  (says  he)  we  are  to  have  another  volume  of  ser- 
"  mons  from  Dr  Blair.  For  although  they  may  be  thought  by 
"  some  severe  judges  a  little  too  florid  and  rhetorical,  yet  they 
"  certainly  abound  with  good  sense,  and  useful  observations,  and  just 
"  sentiments  of  I'eligion,  conveyed  in  lively  and  elegant  language: 
"  better  calculated,  perhaps,  to  engage  the  attention,  and  touch  the 
"  hearts  of  the  generality  of  readers,  than  that  correct  simplicity  and 
"  chastity  of  diction,  which  nicer  ears  require.  There  is,  hov/every 
"  another  volume  of  sermons  expected,  with  which  every  class  of 
"  readers  will,  I  conceive,  be  abundantly  satisfied  ;  I  mean  one  from 
"  Bishop  Hurd.  When  such  talents,  and  taste,  and  learning,  as 
"  his,  are  applied  to  the  illustration  of  practical  subjects,  and  the 
"  recommendation  of  common  religious  duties,  we  may  expect 
"  every  effect  from  them  that  human  abilities  are  capable  of  pro- 

*  See  pag'e  30*. 


328  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  ducing.  Such  publications  as  these  will,  I  hope,  in  some  degree, 
<'  counteract  the  principles  that  will  probably  be  diffused  over  the 
"  kingdom  by  a  very  different  sort  of  composition  ;  a  second 
<'  volume  of  "  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire." 

"  I  am  much-obliged  to  you,  my  dear  sir,  for  your  kind  concern 
in  my  welfare,  and  for  the  many  good  advices  contained  in  your 
]ast.  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  their  importance,  and  will  do  what 
I  can  to  follow  them:  But  in  my  case  there  are  some  peculiar 
difficulties,  which  1  do  not  well  know  how  it  will  be  possible  for  me 
to  get  over." 

LETTER  CXLIV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  23d  May,  1780. 

"  DR  BLAIR'S  second  volume  I  also  saw  at  Gordon  Castle. 
The  Duke  and  Dutchess  read  it  en  famille  on  Sunday  evening ; 
and  I  glanced  over  a  good  part  of  it.  I  did  not  think  it  quite 
equal  to  the  first;  but  perhaps  I  may  be  mistaken.  Dr  Gerard's 
"  Sermons,"  in  one  volume  8vo,  are  just  now  sent  me ;  but  I  have 
not  had  time  to  read  a  single  page.  I  am  sure  they  will  be  sensi- 
ble and  instructive.  The  author  was  my  master,  and  I  have  the 
greatest  regard  for  him.  He  was  more  than  my  master, — he  was 
my  particular  friend,  at  a  time  when  I  had  very  few  friends. 

"  The  death  of  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton  must  be  a  great  afflic- 
tion to  all  his  friends:  .1  feel  for  them,  and  for  myself.  In  him, 
the  world  has  lost  one  of  the  best  men  it  had  to  boast  of.  He  has 
lost  nothing,  but  gained  every  thing ;  and  therefore  there  is  some- 
thing selfish  in  our  lamentations."* 

LETTER  CXLV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDOX. 

Aberdeen,  23d  May,  1780. 

"  To  say  that  my  departure  from  Gordon  Castle  cost  me  some 
sighs  and  tears,  is  not  saying  much ;  as  I  am  apt,  of  late,  when 

*  See  page  162. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  329 

alone,  to  be  rather  expensive  in  that  way,  I  left  you  with  a  weight 
upon  my  mind,  which  would  have  been  hardly  supportable,  if  it 
had  not  been  alleviated,  in  some  degi'ee,  by  the  hope  of  soon  meet- 
ing the  Duke  at  Glasgow,  and  of  seeing  your  ("Arace  once  more  be- 
fore the  end  of  summer.  By  the  bye,  I  hope  Mr  Nicols  will  not  in- 
termeddle in  the  arrangement  of  the  dressing-room  library ;  I  flat- 
ter myself,  that  honour  will  be  reserved  for  me. 

"  I  have  sent  a  small  print,  which  my  bookseller,  in  the  abun- 
dance of  his  wisdom,  and  contrary  to  my  advice,  is  determined  to 
prefix  to  a  new  edition  of  my  "  Essays  on  Poetry,  Music,"  8cc. 
The  figure,  designed  by  Angelica,  is  certainly  very  noble, — much 
more  so  than  I  expected ;  and  is  intended  to  represent  Socrates  in 
prison,  and  under  sentence  of  death,  composing  a  hymn  in  honour 
of  Apollo.  But  I  am  afraid,  that  the  readers  will  neither  guess  at 
the  meaning,  nor  see  any  connection  between  it  and  the  book  :  in 
which  case,  they  will  no  doubt  suppose,  that  the  author  has  pre- 
fixed his  own  image.  However,  the  outline  is  good  and  graceful, 
and  the  attitude  expressive.  If  it  were  not  rather  too  melancholy,  I 
would  say,  that  it  is  very  like  Socrates.  Your  Grace  knows,  that 
the  old  philosopher  was  one  of  the  merriest  men  of  his  time. 

"  I  should  write  a  treatise,  instead  of  a  letter,  if  I  were  to  be 
"particular  in  my  acknowledgments  of  gratitude,  for  what  I  have 
experienced  of  your  Grace's  and  the  Duke's  goodness.  I  shall 
only  say,  (for  I  know  you  would  not  read  me  to  an  end  if  I  were 
on  this  subject  to  use  many  words)  that  I  am  perfectly  sensible  of 
your  kind  attention  to  the  peculiarities  of  my  case.  I  saw  by  many 
instances  every  day,  how  solicitous  you  were  to  withdraw  my  view 
from  every  thing  that  could  create  or  revive  painful  thoughts.  My 
gratitude  and  admiration,  (which  are  two  very  pleasing  and  healthy 
emotions)  were  not  wholly  inadequate;  and  the  consequences  ai'e 
visible  to  every  body.  Since  my  return,  I  have  been  complimented 
on  my  improved  looks ;  though  I  have  felt  but  little  of  that  plea- 
sure which  the  sight  of  home  used  formerly  to  produce  in  me.  In 
fact,  home  is  not  good  for  me  at  present,  and  I  shall  leave  it  as 
soon  as  ever  I  can." 

1      "T 


330  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CXLVI. 


l)fc  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 


Aberdeen,  25th  May,  1780. 

*'  WE  often  spoke  of  you  at  Gordon  Castle,  and  with  very  great 
regard.  The  Duke  is  still  more  and  more  astronomical.  He  had 
Mr  Copland*  with  him  for  a  fortnight  while  I  was  there  ;  and  they 
two  were,  from  morning  to  night,  hard  at  work  in  calculation  and 
observation.  The  Duke  and  Dutchess  are  both,  I  think,  in  better 
health  than  ever  I  knew  them  to  be. 

"  The  manuscript  sermon  of  Bishop  Butler  I  sent  to  the  Bishop 
of  Chester.  You  will  like  to  see  what  he  says  of  it.  "  It  abounds 
"  with  that  strong  sense  and  sound  reasoning  which  so  eminently 
"  distinguished  him  ;  and  I  cannot  see  in  it  the  smallest  foundation 
"  for  that  accusation  which  it  brought  upon  him,  of  being  favourable 
"  to  Popery."  This  it  seems,  was  the  case  at  the  time  the  sermon 
was  preached  ;  and  it  was  perhaps  for  this  reason  that  he  never 
published  it  in  his  works. 

"  I  send  you  inclosed  a  small  piece  of  music,  which  I  think  you 
will  like.  I  got  the  air  at  Gordon  Castle,  and  I  set  to  it  the  second 
part  and  bass.  If  it  were  sung  with  three  voices,  it  would,  I  should 
imagine,  have  a  very  good  effect. 

"  I  lately  heard  two  anecdotes,  which  deserve  to  be  put  in 
writing,  and  which  you  will  be  glad  to  hear.  When  Handel's 
"  Messiah"  was  first  performed,  the  audience  were  exceedingly 
struck  and  affected  by  the  music  in  general ;  but  when  that 
chorus  struck  up,  "  For  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth,"  they 
Were  so  transported,  that  they  all,  together  with  the  King,  (who 
happened  to  be  present)  started  up,  ai^d  remained  standing  till  the 
chorus  ended :  And  hence  it  became  the  fashion  in  England  for 
the  audience  to  stand  while  that  part  of  the  music  is  performing. 
Some  days  after  the  first  exhibition  of  the  same  divine  oratorio, 

*  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Marischal  College. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  33i 

Mr  Handel  came  to  pay  his  respects  to  Lord  Kinnoul,  with  whom 
he  was  particularly  acquainted.  His  Lordship,  as  was  natural, 
paid  him  some  compliments  on  the  noble  entertainment  which  he 
had  lately  given  the  town.  "  My  Lord,"  said  Handel,  "  I  should  be 
"  sorry  if  I  only  entertained  them  ;  I  wish  to  make  them  better." 
These  two  anecdotes  I  had  from  Lord  Kinnoul  himself.  You  will 
agree  with  me,  that  the  first  does  great  honour  to  Handel,  to  music, 
and  to  the  English  nation:  The  second  tends  to  confirm  my  theory, 
and  Sir  John  Hawkins's  testimony,  that  Handel,  in  spite  of  all  that 
has  been  said  to  the  contrary,  must  have  been  a  pious  man." 


LETTER  CXLVIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  2d  June,  1780. 

"  I  HAD  the  honour  to  write  to  your  Grace  on  my  return  to 
Aberdeen,  and  to  send  a  parcel  of  "  Mirrors."  This  will  accom- 
pany the  two  last  papers  that  we  are  to  have  under  that  title. 

"  I  sympathize  with  you  in  your  present  solitude  :  For  though 
nobody  knows  so  well  as  your  Grace  how  to  improve  retirement, 
yet  I  do  not  think  it  is  good  for  any  of  us  to  be  quite  alone.  If  you 
go  to  the  Glen,*  I  would  earnestly  recommend  it  to  your  Grace,  to 
leave  it  to  the  moon  and  stars  to  adorn  the  night,  and  to  be  satisfied 
with  sleeping  under  a  canopy  somewhat  less  sublime  than  that  of 
heaven.  For  though,  in  the  Eden  of  Gordon  Castle,  there  is  no 
serpent,  I  will  not  answer  for  the  little  Paradise  of  Glenfiddich  ; 
and  though  walks  at  midnight,  and  slumbers  in  the  open  air,  might 
be  had  last  summer  without  harm,  we  have  no  reason  to  expect 
that  the  present  season  will  be  equally  indulgent.  I  grant,  that  a 
lonely  walk  by  moonlight  is  pleasing,  like  other  intoxications  ;  but, 
like  them  too,  it  is  hurtful  to  the  nerves  ;  and  I  know  not,  whether 
the  cold  bath  in  the  morning  be  a  sufficient  antidote.  I  need  not 
inform  your  Gi^ace,  and  I  hope  you  will  never  forget,  that  in  the 
evening  it  is  particularly  dangerous  to  walk  among  trees,  on  accoiuit 

•  Glenfiddich. 


332  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

of  the  clamps.  It  was  this  that  brought  all  his  rheumatisms  upon 
Major  Mercer,  though  he  was  then  in  one  of  the  best  and  driest 
climates  in  the  world,  the  south  of  France. 

"  The  Duke's  summons  was  unexpectedly  sudden  :  I  hope 
his  return  will  be  equally  so.  He  was  so  good,  in  passing  through 
the  town,  as  to  call  on  me,  notwithstanding  his  hurry,  and  to  desire 
me  to  go  with  him  to  Edinburgh  ;  an  invitation  so  very  agreeable, 
that  nothing  would  have  hindered  me  from  accepting  it  but  my 
son's  bad  health.  The  boy  was  at  that  time  very  ill  ;  and  I  appre- 
hended a  consumption  :  But  he  is  now  much  better  ;  Dr  Livingston 
having  ordered  for  him  a  preparation  of  bark  and  the  vitriolic  acid, 
which,  with  a  strict  regimen  in  the  article  of  diet,  has  in  a  few 
days  had  the  happiest  effects.  So  that,  if  nothing  unexpected 
occur  ;  I  have  thoughts  of  going  southward  next  week  ;  in  which 
case,  it  will  not  be  long  before  your  Grace  hears  of  me  from 
Glasgow.  You  will  probably  hear  from  me  too,  if  I  meet  with  any 
adventure.  I  shall  remember  the  commission  in  regard  to  Addi- 
son ;  and,  if  you  will  honour  me  with  any  other,  please  to  direct  to 
me  at  Sir  William  Forbes's,  St  Andrew's  Street,  Edinburgh. 

"  I  had  lately  a  tete'a-teie  of  several  hours  with  Lord  Kaimes 
and  Mrs  Drummond.  There  was  no  company  ;  and  we  had  much 
conversation  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects — your  Grace  and  the 
Duke,  Lord  and  Lady  F.,  Mrs  Montagu,  David  Hume,  religion, 
episcopacy  and  presbyterianism,  manufactures,  music,  Scotch 
tunes,  with  the  method  of  playing  them.  Sec. ;  and  I  flatter  myself, 
that  his  Lordship  and  I  parted  with  some  reluctance  on  both  sides. 
He  assured  me  that  he  hated  Mr  Hume's  tenets  as  much  as  I  did, 
or  could  do  ;  and  he  spoke  of  religion  with  great  reverence.  In  a 
word,  I  found,  from  his  conversation,  that  he  is  just  what  your 
Grace  had  described  him  to  me,  and  that  all  the  other  accounts  I 
had  heard  of  him  were  wide  of  the  truth.  I  would  thank  you, 
madam,  for  undeceiving  me  in  this  particular,  and  establishing 
peace,  and  I  hope  amity,  between  us  ;  but  I  have  so  many  things 
to  thank  you  for,  that  if  I  were  to  enter  upon  that  matter  in  detail, 
I  should  not  know  where  to  begin,  and  my  letter  would  never  have 
an  end. 

"  Thus  far  I  had  written  on  Friday,  when  I  had  the  honour  to 
receive  your  Grace's  letter  of  last  Wednesday  ;  which  is  so  very 
flattering  to  me,  that  I  cannot  answer  a  word.     I  certainly  left 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  333 

Gordon  Castle  with  great  reluctance  ;  and  my  heart  and  my  fancy 
did,  both  of  them,  and  still  do,  cast 

"  Many  a  longing,  lingering  look  behind." 

The  society  was  most  ag-reeable ;  but,  I  flatter  myself,  you  will  do 
me  the  justice  to  believe,  it  was  not  the  parting  with  the  guests  that 
touched  me  so  nearly, — though,  I  am  sure,  I  love  and  esteem  them 
all  as  much  as  they  themselves  would  wish  me  to  do. 

"  I  delivered  your  message  to  Dr  Livingston,  with  whom  I 
dined  the  other  day,  in  company  with  three  sensible  and  cheerful 
Quakers.  I  spoke  to  them  of  my  friend,  and  their  brother,  Mr 
Scott,  (the  author  of  the  "  Eclogues,"  which  your  Grace  liked  so 
much)  whom  the  Londoner  very  well  knew  ;  and  I  diverted  them 
with  the  history  of  a  dinner,  with  which  I  was  once  entertained  by 
ten  or  twelve  of  their  fraternity,  on  the  King's  birth-day,  at  one 
o'clock,  near  the  confluence  of  the  Thames  and  Fleet-ditch,  the 
very  spot  where  Pope  makes  his  Dunces  jump  into  the  mud,  in  the 
second  book  of  the  "  Dunciad."  These  Quakers  were  all  men  of 
learning  and  sense  ;  and  their  manners,  polite  though  peculiar, 
were  to  me  a  very  entertaining  novelty.  Indeed,  the  affection  they 
showed  me,  deserved,  on  my  part,  the  warmest  returns  of  grati- 
tude. 

"  I  have  put  up  in  a  parcel  for  your  Grace,  "  Count  Fathom," 
"  The  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  and  "  Gaudentio  di  Lucca ;"  which,  with 
the  "  Italian  Prayer  Book,"  I  have  committed  to  a  faithful  hand. 
"  Gaudentio"  (if  you  have  never  seen  it)  will  amuse  you,  though 
there  are  tedious  passages  in  it.  The  whole  description  of  passing 
the  deserts  of  Africa  is  particularly  excellent.  The  author  is  no 
less  a  person  than  the  famous  Bishop  Berkeley.  As  to  the  whisky,  I 
cannot  trust  it  in  the  rude  hands  of  a  carrier,  and  must  therefore  keep 
it  till  a  more  favourable  opportunity  offer  :  But,  that  it  may  remain 
sacred,  I  have  sealed  the  cork  of  the  bottle  with  the  impression  of 
three  ladies,*  whom  I  take  to  be  your  Grace's  near  relations,  as 
they  have  the  honour,  not  only  to  bear  one  of  your  titles,  but  also 
to  resemble  you  exceedingly  in  form,  feature,  and  manner.  If 
you  had  lived  three  thousand  years  ago,  which  I  am  very  glad  you 

*  The  seal  he  commonly  used,  had  an  impression  of  the  three  Graces. 


334  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

did  not,  there  would  have  been  four  of  them,  and  you  the  first. 
May  all  happmess  ever  attend  your  Grace." 


The  following  letter,  from  Dr  Johnson  to  Dr  Beattie,  is  equally 
creditable  to  both  :  It  is  the  unsolicited  and  unbiassed  testimony  of 
one  who  was  no  flatterer  ;  and  strongly  marks  the  high  degree  of 
estimation  in  which  he  held  Dr  Beattie,  who  returned  his  kindness 
with  reciprocal  regard.* 


LETTER  CXLVIII. 


DR  SAMUEL  JOHNSON  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Bolt-Court,  Fleet-Street,  21st  August,  178Q. 

"  MORE  years  than  I  have  any  delight  to  reckon  have  past 
since  you  and  I  saw  one  another.  Of  this,  however,  there  is  no 
reason  for  making  any  reprehensory  complaint,  sic  fata  ferunt  : 
But,  methinks,  there  might  pass  some  small  interchange  of 
regard  between  us.  If  you  say,  that  I  ought  to  have  written,  I  now 
write  ;  and  I  write  to  tell  you,  that  I  have  much  kindness  for  you 
and  Mrs  Beattie,  and  that  I  wish  your  health  better,  and  your  life 
long.  Try  change  of  air,  and  come  a  few  degrees  southward  ;  a 
softer  climate  may  do  you  both  good.  Winter  is  coming  on,  and 
London  will  be  warmer,  and  gayer,  and  busier,  and  more  fertile  of 
amusement  than  Aberdeen. 

"  My  health  is  better ;  but  that  will  be  little  in  the  balance, 
when  I  tell  you,  that  Mrs  Montagu  has  been  very  ill,  and  is,  I 
doubt,  now  but  weakly.  Mr  Thraie  has  been  very  dangerously  dis- 
ordered, but  is  much  better,  and  I  hope  will  totally  recover.  He 
has  withdrawn  himself  from  business  the  whole  summer.  Sir 
Joshua  and  his  sister  are  well ;  and  Mr  Davis  has  had  great  suc- 
cess as  an  author,  generated  by  the  corruption  of  a  bookseller. 

*  See  p.  147. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  335 

More  news  I  have  not  to  tell  you  ;  and  therefore  you  must  be  con- 
tented to  hear  that  1  am,"  &c. 


When  I  mentioned  *  the  commencement  of  my  acquaintance 
and  epistolary  intercourse  with  Dr  Beattie,  1  did  not  conceal  my 
apprehensions,  that  T  might  be  accused  of  vanity,  in  publishing  tO' 
the  world  those  warm  expressions  of  affection  and  gratitude  towards 
me,  which  occur  in  almost  every  letter  I  received  from  him  ;  and 
of  which,  for  that  reason,  I  have  suppressed  by  far  the  greatest 
part.  But  I  should  deem  myself,  not  only  unworthy  of  the  friend- 
ship of  Dr  Beattie,  but  destitute  of  the  best  feelings  of  our  nature, 
were  I  insensible  to  what  he  says  in  the  following  letter,  written  a 
short  time  after  he  had  passed  some  weeks  in  our  house  at  Edin- 
burgh. Indeed,  his  partiality  to  every  one  of  my  family  was  very 
remarkable  ;  and  his  esteem  and  admiration  of  that  best  part  of  it, 
in  particular,  of  whom  it  has  since  pleased  Heaven  to  deprive  me, 
but  the  memory  of  whose  talents  and  virtues  will  never  be  erased 
from  my  heart,  could  not  but  be  very  grateful  to  me. 

I  trust,  therefore,  that  the  reader  will  pardon  me  if  I  dwell  with 
no  common  fondness  on  what  he  wrote  on  a  subject,  then  so  inter- 
esting to  me,  and  to  which  the  hand  of  time  has  now  given  an  in- 
terest still  more  affecting. 


LETTER  CXLIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  6th  November,  1780. 

"  YOUR  letter,  my  dear  sir,  from  Oxford,  which  I  received 
a  few  days  ago,  gave  me  great  pleasure,  on  account  of  the  agreeable 
information  it  brought  me  of  Lady  Forbes's  health  and  yours,  and 
of  your  amusing  journey.    I  know,  from  Pennant's  "  Welsh  Tour," 

•  See  p.5t. 


336  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

that  there  are  many  things  in  that  country  worthy  of  the  traveller's 
attention  ;  many  wild  and  many  soothing  scenes,  and  many  noble 
monuments  of  war,  and  of  superstitious  and  feudal  magnificence. 
Such  things,  to  a  mind  turned  like  yours,  would  have  a  charm  inex- 
pressible ;  and  would  be  highly  amusing  to  Lady  Forbes,  whose 
mind  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  as  open  to  the  impressions  of  romantic 
art  and  nature,  as  either  yours  or  mine  ;  which,  I  will  venture  to 
say,  is  a  bold  word.  Accept  of  my  hearty  welcome  to  your  own 
house  and  home,  which  I  hope  you  have  reached  before  this  time  ; 
for,  in  this  season  of  tempest  and  immature  winter,  I  should  be  sorry 
to  think  that  you  and  your  amiable  associate  were  struggling  with 
the  inconveniences  of  deep  roads,  cold  inns,  and  short  days.  I  hope 
you  got  William  settled  to  your  mind  during  your  absence  ;  and 
that,  at  your  return,  you  found  him,  and  my  friend  Miss  Forbes, 
and  my  sworn  brother  John,  and  my  acquaintance  James,  and  the 
other  young  gentleman,  who,  I  hope,  will  one  day  be  my  acquaint- 
ance, in  perfect  health,  and  as  flourishing  as  I  wish  them  to  be. 

"  The  many  kind  attentions  I  received  from  my  friends  in  Edin- 
burgh and  its  neighbourhood,  particularly  from  Lady  Forbes  and 
you,  and  Mr  Arbuthnot,  did  me  the  greatest  service ;  and  I  returned 
home  a  new  man.  But  then  I  instantly  found  myself  plimged  into 
such  a  chaos  of  perplexity,  as  at  once  swallowed  up  all  the  little 
health  I  had  been  collecting  from  so  many  quarters ;  and,  after  a 
few  days  ineffectual  wrangling,  I  was  necessitated  (I  will  not  say  to 
go,  but)  to  run  away  to  Peterhead,  taking  my  son  along  with  me  ; 
and  there  I  remained  seven  weeks.  To  unfold  the  causes  of  this 
perplexity  would,  I  think,  require  two  volumes  as  large  as  the 
"  Sorrows  of  Werter:"*  I  will  not  therefore  attempt  it  at  present. 
I  shall  only  say,  that  it  did  not  arise  from  a  certain  circumstance 
which  lies  nearest  my  heart,  (for  in  that  there  is  not  the  least  vari- 
ation) but  from  the  unreasonableness  of  some  persons  with  whom  I 
am  connected,  and  who,  having  not  much  sensibility  themselves, 
can  hardly  make  allowance  for  that  of  other  people.  However, 
matters  are  now  a  little  softened,  and  seem  to  promise  tranquillity, 
at  least  for  a  short  time ;  and  a  very  small  abatement  of  trouble  is  a 
sort  of  tranquillity  to  one,  who,  like  me,  has  been  so  long  buffeted, 
on  all  sides,  by  more  storms  than  are  commonly  found  to  assail  a 

*  A  German  novel,  ijiuchin  fashion  at  that  time. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  337 

person  so  insignificant  as  I  am.  Dr  Livingston  knows  every  cir- 
cumstance of  what  I  allude  to.*  I  have  in  every  thing  been  gov- 
erned by  his  advice  ;  for  I  begin  to  distrust  my  own  faculties,  as  I 
feel  them  sensibly  impaired.  At  any  rate,  I  am  sure  I  shall  do 
well  in  doing  what  he  recommended  ;  as  I  have  always  found  him 
a  most  intelligent,  prudent,  and  affectionate  friend,  as  well  as  one 
of  the  ablest  of  his  profession.  I  shall  some  time  hereafter  explain 
myself  to  you  on  this  subject  very  particularly.  At  present  I  wish 
rather  to  decline  troubling  you  in  regard  to  it. 

"  I  am  glad  you  met  with  the  Bishop  of  Bangor.  I  knew  him 
formerly  when  he  was  Dean  of  Canterbury  ;t  and  I  once  passed  a 
morning  in  company  with  his  lady  Mrs  Moore,  at  Dr  Markham's, 
then  Bishop  of  Chester,  now  Archbishop  of  York.  Your  account 
of  Dr  Moore  is  very  just ;  he  is  really  a  most  worthy  man.  By  the 
bye,  I  think  the  English  bench  of  Bishops  was  never  more  respect- 
able, than  at  present,  for  learning  and  piety." 


LETTER  CL. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Whitehall,  16th  May,  1781, 

*'  I  HAVE  seen  most  of  the  fashionable  curiosities  ;  but  will 
not  trouble  your  Grace  with  any  particular  account  of  them.  The 
exhibition  of  pictures  at  the  Royal  Academy  is  the  best  of  the  kind 
I  have  seen.  The  best  pieces,  in  my  opinion,  are,  Thais  (with  a 
torch  in  her  hand) ;  the  Death  of  Dido  ;  and  a  Boy  supposed  to  be 
listening  to  a  wonderful  story ;  these  three  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds : 
a  Shepherd-boy,  by  Gainsborough  :  some  landscapes,  by  Barrett. 
Christ  healing  the  Sick,  by  West,  is  a  prodigious  great  work,  and 

*  Dr  Thomas  Livingston,  a  physician  at  Aberdeen,  of  the  first  eminence, 
between  wliom  and  Dr  Beattie  tliere  long  subsisted  the  most  intimate  friend- 
ship.    He  died  the  9th  March,  1785. 

t  Afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

2  tr 


S3S  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

has  in  it  great  variety  of  expression  ;  but  there  is  a  glare  and  a 
hardness  in  the  colouring,  which  makes  it  look  more  like  a  picture 
than  like  nature.  Gainsborough's  picture  of  the  King  is  the 
strongest  likeness  I  have  ever  seen  ;  his  Queen  too  is  very  well : 
but  he  has  not  given  them  attitudes  becoming  their  rank  ;  the  King 
has  his  hat  in  his  hand,  and  the  Queen  looks  as  if  she  were 
going  to  courtesy  in  the  beginning  of  a  minuet.  Others  may  think 
differently  :  I  give  my  own  opinion. 

"  There  is  nothing  at  either  playhouse  that  is  in  the  least  capti- 
vating ;  nor,  I  think,  one  player,  Mrs  Abingdon  excepted,  whom 
one  would  wish  to  see  a  second  time.  I  was  shocked  at  Leoni,  in 
"  Had  I  a  heart  for  falsehood,"  8cc.  A  man  singing  with  a  woman's 
voice,  sounds  as  unnatural  to  me,  as  a  woman  singing  with  a  man's. 
Either  may  do  in  a  private  company,  where  it  is  enough  if  people 
are  divei'ted  ;  but  on  a  stage,  where  nature  ought  to  be  imitated, 
both  are  in  my  opinion  intolerable. 

"  Johnson's  new  "  Lives"  are  published.  He  is,  as  your  Grace 
heard  he  would  be,  very  severe  on  my  poor  friend.  Gray.  His  life 
of  Pope  is  excellent ;  and  in  all  his  lives  there  is  merit,  as  they  con- 
tain a  great  variety  of  sound  criticism  and  pleasing  information. 
He  has  not  done  justice  to  Lord  Lyttelton.  He  has  found  means 
to  pay  me  a  very  great  compliment,  for  which  I  am  much  obliged 
to  him,  in  speaking  of  Mr  Gray's  journey  into  Scotland  in  1765.* 

"  Copley's  picture  of  Lord  Chatham's  Death  is  an  exhibition  of 
itself.  It  is  a  vast  collection  of  portraits,  some  of  them  very  like  : 
but,  excepting  three  or  four  of  the  personages  present,  few  of  this 
vast  assembly  seem  to  be  much  affected  with  the  great  event ; 
which  divests  the  picture  of  its  unity,  and  will  in  the  next  age  make 
it  cease  to  be  interesting." 

*  Speaking'of  that  journey,  Dr  Johnson  says,  "  He  (Mr  Gray)  naturally 
*'  contracted  a  friendship  with  Dr  Beattie,  whom  he  found  a  poet,  a  philoso- 
"  pher,  and  a  good  man."    Johnson's  Lives,  Vol.  IV.  p.  471. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  S39 


LETTER  CLI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Middle  Scotland-yard,  Whitehall,  1st  June,  1781. 

"  IF  you  will  not  allow  eating  and  drinking,  and  walking  and 
visiting,  to  be  work,  I  must  confess  I  have  for  tliese  five  weeks 
been  very  idle.  Yet  in  such  a  perpetual  hurry  have  I  been  kept  by 
this  sort  of  idleness,  that  I  had  no  time  to  write,  to  read,  or  even  to 
think.  For  the  amusement  of  my  young  fellow-traveller,*  and  in 
order  also  to  drive  away  painful  ideas  from  myself,  I  have  run 
through  a  complete  Encyclopedie  of  shows,  and  monsters,  and  other 
curiosities,  from  "  Douglas"  at  Drury-lane,  to  the  puppet-siiovv  at 
Astley's  riding-school ;  from  the  wonderful  heifer  with  two  heads, 
to  Dr  Graham  and  his  celestial  brilliancy  ;  from  the  great  lion  in 
the  Tower,  and  the  stuffed  elephant's  skin  at  Sir  Ashton  Lever's,  to 
the  little  Welsh  woman  in  Holborn,  who,  though  twenty-tiiree 
years  of  age,  weighs  only  eighteen  pounds. 

"  But,  what  you  will  readily  believe  to  have  been  much  more 
beneficial  to  my  health  and  spirits,  I  have  been  visiting  all  my 
friends  again  and  again,  and  found  them  as  affectionate  and  atten- 
tive as  ever.  Death  has  indeed  deprived  me  of  some  since  1  was 
last  here,  of  Garrick,  and  Armstrong,  and  poor  Harry  Smith  ;  but 
I  have  still  many  left ;  some  of  whom  are  higher  in  the  world,  and 
in  better  health,  than  they  were  in  1775,  and  all  as  well  and  as 
flourishing  as  I  had  any  reason  to  expect. 

"  I  have  seen  Mr  Langton  several  times,  and  I  gave  him  your 
memorandum  relating  to  M.  Tremblay.  He  goes  to  Chatham  in 
a  few  days  with  his  family,  in  quality  of  engineer ;  and  I  intend  to 
make  him  a  visit  there,  having  some  curiosity  to  see  the  shipping 
and  the  fortifications.  You  certainly  know  that  Mr  Langton  is  an 
officer  of  militia.  He  loves  the  military  life,  and  has  been  inde» 
fatigable  in  acquiring  the  knowledge  that  is  necessary  to  it.     He  is 

*  His  son. 


340  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

allowed  to  be  a  most  excellent  engineer.     Indeed  he  is  excellent  in 
every  thing  * 

"  Johnson  grows  in  grace  as  he  grows  in  years.     He  not  only 
has  better  health  and  a  fresher  complexion  than  ever  he  had  before, 

•  Bennet  Langton,  Esq.  of  Langton,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln,  LL.  D.  a 
gentleman  no  less  eminent  for  Iiis  virtues,  than  for  his  ardent  love  of  litera- 
ture. Inheriting  a  paternal  fortune,  that  rendered  him  independent  of  any 
profession,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  letters,  which  he  cultivated 
with  uncommon  assiduity,  first  at  the  grammar  schools  of  Kensington,  Read- 
ing, and  Beverl\ ,  afterwards  at  Trinity-college,  Oxford.  His  favourite  study 
was  Greek,  in  which  he  became  very  learned;  he  was  an  excellent  Latin 
scholar,  and  had  even  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew.  He  had  a 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  French  language,  and  read  also  the  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  Portuguese. 

But  his  successful  and  extraordinary  acquirements  in  literature,  were  by 
no  means  the  most  remarkable  parts  of  Mr  Langton's  character.  His  exem- 
plary piety ,  his  singular  humihty,  and  his  unwearied  endeavours  in  the  exercise 
of  t!ie  great  duties  of  charity  and  benevolence,  were  his  brightest  ornaments. 
It  was  the  emphatic  testimony  of  Dr  Johnson  in  his  favour,  "  I  know  not 
"  who  will  go  to  heaven  if  Langton  does  not :  Sir,  I  could  almost  say,  Sit 
"  anbna  nie.i  cum  Langtono ,"]  and  when  Mr  Boswell,  to  whom  tlie  Doctor 
made  the  remark,  mentioned  a  very  eminent  Iriend  of  theirs  as  a  virtuous 
man,  Johnson's  reply  was, — "  Yes,  Sir,  but  he  has  not  the  evangelical  virtue 
•'  of  Langton."  On  another  occasion  he  said  to  Mr  Boswell,  with  a  vehe- 
mence of  affectionate  regard, — "  The  earth  does  not  bear  a  worthier  man 
"  tiiiin  Bennet  Langton."  J 

His  acquaintance  with  Dr  Johnson  commenced  in  a  manner  somewhat 
singular.  When  Mr  Langton  was  no  more  tlian  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 
before  he  went  to  the  university,  having  read,  with  a  high  degree  of  admira- 
lion,  Dr  Johnson's  celebrated  "Rambler,"  which  was  first  published  about 
that  period,  he  travelled  to  London  chiefly  with  a  view  of  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  its  author.  In  this  he  succeeded  ;  and  Johnson  being  struck 
with  his  great  piety,  love  of  learning,  and  suavity  of  manners,  conceived  a 
warm  affection  for  him  ;  while  he,  on  the  other  hand,  was  charmed  with  Dr 
Johnson,  whose  ideas  and  sentiments  he  found  congenial  with  those  he  had 
early  imbibed  at  home.  From  that  period,  notwithstanding  a  considerable 
disparity  of  years,  a  most  intimate  friendship  took  place  between  them,  which 
lasted,  without  the  slightest  interruption,  as  long  as  Johnson  lived.  When 
the  death  of  his  inestimable  friend  drew  near,  Mr  Langton  attended  him  con- 
stantly, and  soothed  some  of  his  last  liours  with  the  most  pleasing  and  afiec. 
tionate  assiduity.     Once  when  Mr  Langton  was  sitting  by  his  bedside,  Dr 

+  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  3d  ed.  Vol.  IV.  p.  294. 
i  Ibid,  Vol.  ill.  ft  175. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  341 

(at  least  since  I  knew  him)  but  he  has  contracted  a  gentleness  of 
manners  which  pleases  every  body.*  Some  ascribe  this  to  the 
good  company  to  which  he  has  of  late  been  more  accustomed  than 
in  the  early  part  of  his  life.     There  may  be  something  in  this;  but 

Johnson  is  said  to  have  seized  his  hand,  and  to  have  exclaimed  with  great 
emphasis — "  Te  teneani  moriens  defiaente  inanuV 

Nor  did  this  amiable  person,  with  all  his  attachment  to  literature,  shut 
himself  up  in  his  library,  or  pass  his  time  in  literary  indolence  Having'  en- 
gaged in  that  constitutional  defence  of  his  country,  the  militia,  he  laid  aside 
his  classical  studies  for  a  time,  and  resolved  to  make  himself  thoroughly  mas- 
ter  of  military  tactics.  In  this  pursuit  he  employed  himself  with  sucii  assi- 
duity, that  in  no  long  period  he  became  an  excellent  officer.  He  acquired  the 
esteem  and  admiration  of  his  brother-officers,  not  only  by  his  worth  and  learn- 
ing, but  by  his  elegant  manners,  and  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  entertaining 
conversation ;  while  he  procured  the  love  of  the  soldiers,  by  his  mildness  and 
humanity,  which  were  so  great,  that  he  was  never  in  a  single  instance  betrayed 
into  passion,  nor  ever  heard  to  utter  an  oath. 

So  high  stood  his  reputation  for  integrity  and  knowledge,  that  many  years 
after  he  had  left  Beverly,  where  he  had  received  a  part  of  his  education,  a 
considerable  number  of  the  most  respectable  voters  of  that  borough  came  to 
him,  and  invited  him  to  offer  himself  a  candidate  at  the  ensuing  election,  pro- 
mising him  their  support ;  to  whicli  they  were  induced  without  any  personal 
acquaintance,  merely  from  the  high  opinion  they  entertained  of  his  character. 
An  offer,  however,  which,  fi-om  motives  of  conscience,  he  thought  proper  to 
decline. 

Mr  Langton  was  a  member  of  the  Literary  Club  ;f  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  the  only  original  member  remaining.  It  consisted  of  some  of  the 
most  eminent  persons  of  the  age  ;  and  among  them  Mr  Langton  had  the  hap- 
piness to  number  among  his  intimate  friends,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Dr  John- 
son, Mr  Burke,  Mr  Beauclerk,  Mr  Garrick,  Dr  Goldsmith,  Dr  Warton,  Mr 
Chamier.  Mr  Boswell;  all  of  whom  paid  the  debt  of  nature  before  him.  In 
January  178.5,  his  Majest}',  thi;  king  him  the  fittest  person  to  succeed  Dr 
Johnson,  did  Mr  Langton  the  honour  to  appoint  him  Professor  of  Ancient 
Literature  in  the  Royal  Academy. 

He  married  the  Countess-dowager  of  Rothes,  by  whom  he  had  a  numer- 
ous family,  and  died  on  the  lOlIi  December,  1801,  in  the  65th  year  of  his 
age. 

It  Is  with  peculiar  delight,  that  I  contemplate  the  character  of  this  pious 
and  worthy  man,  whose  virtues  I  revere,  and  whose  example  I  could  wish  to 
imitate.  I  was  ha]ipy  in  his  friendship  and  unreserved  epistolary  intercourse, 
during  the  long  period  of  nearly  thirty  years. 

*  See  p.  334. 

t  For  an  account  of  this  elegant  literary  soeicty,  sec  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  Vol,  I.  p.  433. 


342  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

I  am  apt  to  think  the  good  health  he  has  enjoyed  for  a  long  time  is 
the  chief  cause.  Mr  Thrale  appointed  him  one  of  his  executors, 
and  left  him  two  hundred  pounds  :  every  body  says  he  should  have 
left  him  two  hundred  a-year ;  which,  from  a  fortune  like  his,  would 
have  been  a  very  inconsiderable  deduction." 


LETTER  CLII. 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

London,  3d  June,  1781. 

"  YOUR  Grace's  letter  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  words  can 
express.  I  see  from  it,  you  are  in  good  health  and  spirits,  and  that 
you  do  me  the  honour  sometimes  to  think  of  me.  I  meet  with  the 
greatest  civilities  here  every  day,  from  persons  for  whom  I  have 
the  highest  esteem ;  yet  so  far  am  I  from  entertaining  any  idea  of 
remaining  among  them,  that  I  begin  to  look  forward  with  some  im- 
patience to  that  day  on  which  I  am  again  to  set  my  face  northwards, 
and  which  I  think  is  not  above  three  weeks  distant :  and  I  hope, 
that,  in  three  or  four  weeks  more,  I  shall  have  the  honour  to  pre- 
sent you  with  as  many  pens*  at  Peterhead,  as  will  convey  to  all 
your  friends  the  most  pleasing  intelligence. 

"  The  thunder  is  roaring  while  I  write  this  ;  and  a  most  wel- 
come sound  it  is  to  me,  as  it  will  bring  rain  and  coolness,  of  which 
the  country  stands,  and  I  stand,  very  much  in  need.  For  some  days 
past  the  heat  has  been  intolerable  ;  the  mercury  in  the  thermometer 
being  at  80,o  or,  as  some  say,  at  83",  which  is  five  degrees  higher, 
at  least,  than  ever  I  knew  it  in  Scotland.     Persons  who  have  been  in 

*  Dr  Beattie  alludes  here  to  the  following  epigram,  written  at  Peterhead, 
when  there  in  company  with  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon  the  autumn  preceding : 

Extempore  with  a  Pen,  sent  to  her  Grace  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon. 
Go,  and  be  guided  by  the  bi-ightest  eyes. 

And  to  the  softest  hand  thine  aid  impart. 
To  trace  the  fair  ideas,  as  they  rise 

Warm,  fi-om  the  purest,  gentlest,  noblest  heart. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  543 

the  West  Indies  say,  that  the  Jamaica  heat  is  much  more  tolerable. 
In  this  situation,  it  is  no  wonder  that  I  should  often  think  of  the 
shades  of  the  holly-bank  at  Gordon  Castle,  and  the  sea-breezes  of 
Peterhead. 

"  The  Persees,  or  Gentoos,  or  (as  some  call  them)  the  Persian 
ambassadors,  are  at  present  one  of  the  great  curiosities  of  the  town. 
They  are  charged  with  some  embassy  from  their  own  country ; 
but  what  that  is  nobody  knows.  Lord  William  Gordon  did  me  the 
honour  to  make  me  one  of  a  large  party,  whom  he  lately  invited  to 
Green-park  Lodge  to  see  them.  By  means  of  a  gentleman,  who 
acted  as  their  interpreter,  I  asked  them  several  questions,  to  which 
they  returned  pertinent  answers.  They  are  dressed  in  the  manner 
of  their  country,  in  long  robes  of  a  whitish-coloured  stuff  resemb- 
ling Indian  silk,  with  turbans  on  their  heads,  differing  howeverfrom 
the  Turkish  turbans.  Their  complexion  is  a  yellowish  black,  re- 
sembling the  mulatto  colour,  with  mustachios  or  whiskers  of  the 
deepest  black,  as  are  also  their  eyes.  Their  features  are  regular, 
and  of  the  Eui-opean  cast :  the  younger  of  the  two  may  be  called 
handsome  ;  and  the  elder,  who  is  his  father,  has  a  most  expressive, 
sensible  countenance.  Though  many  people  of  great  rank  were 
pi'esent,  particularly  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Lord  and  Lady  Pem- 
broke, Lady  Frances  Scot,  Lady  Irvine  and  all  her  daughters,  the 
three  Lady  Waidegraves,  Lord  Herbert,  &c.  the  strangers  behaved 
with  great  ease,  as  well  as  with  great  courtesy.  Lord  William  pre- 
sented me  to  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  with  whom  I  had  the  honour 
of  a  short  conversation,  and  who  made  me  very  happy  in  saying, 
that  he  had  heard  your  Grace  speak  of  me." 

LETTER  CLIIL 

,    <'^  DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

London,  28th  June,  l^Sl. 
"  I  HAVE  seen  Bishop  Hurd  *  once  and  again  ;  and  last 
Sunday  at  Canewood  passed  a  truly  classical  day  with  Lord  Mans- 

*  Bishop  of  Worcester;  between  whom  and  Dr  Beattie  there  existed  a 
mutual  respect  and  esteem.  Tliis  venerable  Prelate  is  the  well-known  author 
of  •'  An  Introduction  to  tlie  Study  of  the  Prophecies  conc-crninc^  the  Chris- 


344  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

field  and  him.  I  never  saw  Lord  Mansfield  better.  He  is  in  per- 
fect health  and  good  spirits,  and  looks  no  older  than  fifty -five.  He 
walked  with  me  three  miles  and  a  half,  without  the  least  appearance 
of  fatigue.* 

"  The  Bishop  of  Chester  has  been  gone  some  time,  and  several 
others  of  my  friends  have  left  the  town  ;  so  that  as  my  business  is 
finished,  or  nearly  so,  I  have  nothing  to  keep  me  longer  here.  I 
hope  we  shall  meet  in  little  ntiore  than  a  fortnight. 

"  Mrs  Montagu,  on  going  to  her  country-seat  in  Berkshire, 
about  a  month  ago,  was  seized  with  a  violent  illness.  The  physi- 
cians sent  her  instantly  to  Bath,  where  she  has  been  ever  since.  I 
had  the  pleasure  to  learn  last  night,  by  a  letter  from  her  own  hand, 
that  she  is  now  quite  well. 

"  I  went  lately  to  Rochester,  on  a  visit  to  Mr  Langton  and  Lady 
Rothes  ;  who  desire  to  be  remembered  to  Lady  Forbes  and  you. 
Mr  Langton  has  sent  me  Tremblay's  book,  which  I  shall  take  pro- 
per care  of.  At  Chatham  I  saw  that  wonderful  sight,  a  ninety-gun 
ship  on  the  stocks  :  but,  from  the  top  of  Shooter's-hili,  on  my  re- 
turn, I  saw  a  sight  still  more  magnificent,  a  complete  view  of  this 
huge  metropolis  from  Chelsea  to  Blackwall,  the  back-ground  em- 
bellished with  a  violent  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning,  which  roared 
and  flashed  without  intermission. 

"  I  thought  it  nay  duty  to  appear  at  the  levee  before  I  left  Lon- 
don ;  and  accordingly  the  week  before  last  I  went  to  court.  The 
King  had  not  seen  me  for  six  years,  and  yet,  to  my  surprise,  knew 
me  at  first  sight.  He  spoke  to  me  with  his  wonted  condescension 
and  affability  ;  and  paid  me  a  very  polite  compliment  on  the  sub- 
ject of  my  writings." 

•'  tlan  Church  :"  "  A  Commentary  and  Notes  on  Horace's  Art  of  Poetry:" 
•'Moral  and  Political  Dialogues:"  "  Sermons  preaclied  at  Lincoln's  inn," 
and  "  A  Moral  Dlssertalion  of  the  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  taken 
from  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor's  "  Ductor  D'.ibitantium."  Dr  Beattie  has  else- 
where said,  tliat  he  thought  the  Bishop  of  London  and  Bishop  of  Worcester 
the  two  best  preachers  he  ever  heard. f 

•  See  p.  158. 

t  See  Page  284. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  345 

LETTER  CLIV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  21st  November,  1781. 

"  IN  calling  your  Grace's  attention  to  an  "  Essay  on  Beauty," 
I  am  afraid  I  shall  incur  the  same  censure  with  a  brother-professor 
of  mine,  who  had  the  assurance  to  deliver,  in  the  liearing  of  the 
greatest  commander  on  earth,  a  dissertation  on  the  art  of  war. 
"  Many  a  fool  have  I  seen  in  my  time,"  said  Hannibal,  "  but  this 
"  old  blockhead  exceeds  them  all." 

"  However,  one  must  keep  one's  word  ;  and,  as  your  Grace  de- 
sired to  see  this  Essay,  and  I  promised  to  send  it,  (as  soon  as  I  could 
get  it  transcribed)  I  send  it  accordingly.  I  should  not  give  you  the 
trouble  to  return  it,  if  I  had  not  promised  a  reading  of  it  to  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds.  As  it  is  only  an  extract  from  "A  Discourse  on 
"  Memory  and  Imagination,"  (which  your  Grace  could  not  find 
time  to  look  into  at  Peterhead,  and  which  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
send  at  present,  as  I  am  correcting  it  for  the  press)  I  am  afraid  you 
will  find  some  obscurity  in  it,  especially  towards  the  beginning. 

"  If  the  last  letter  had  not  miscarried,  which  I  had  the  honour  to 
•write  to  your  Grace,  you  would  have  known,  that  I  am  now  very 
busy  in  revising  and  transcribing  papers  ;  as  I  am  to  put  a  quarto 
volume  to  press  in  little  more  than  a  month ;  and  a  quarto  not  much 
smaller  than  my  last.  Your  Grace  has  seen  a  good  deal  of  it,  but 
not  the  whole." 

LETTER  CLV. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  MR  WILLIAMSON. 

Aberdeen,  5th  December,  1781. 
"  IF  Dr  Home  *  be  returned  to  Oxford,  I  beg  you  will  take 
the  first  opportunity  to  present  my  best  respects  to  him,  and  assure 

*  Afterwards  Bishop  of  Norwich,  author  of  "  A  Letter  to  Adam  Smith, 
"  LL.  D.  on  the  Life,  Death,  and  Philosophy  of  his  friend  David  Hume, 
'*  Esq.  by  one  of  the  People  called  Christians."  Printed  at  Oxford  in  the 
year  1777. 

2  X 


346  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

him,  that  I  shall  ever  retain  a  most  grateful  sense  of  the  honour  he 
has  done  me  in  his  elegant  letter  to  Adam  Smith.  This  acknow- 
ledgment comes  rather  late ;  but  it  is  not  on  that  account  the  less 
sincere.  Why  it  has  been  so  long  delayed,  I  now  beg  leave  to  ex- 
plain. 

"  The  first  notice  I  received  of  Dr  Home's  excellent  pamphlet, 
was  in  a  short  letter  from  you,  which  came  at  a  time  when  my  health 
was  in  so  bad  a  way,  that  most  of  my  friends  here  thought  1  had  not 
many  w^eeks  to  live.  These  sufferings,  I  must  acknowledge,  drove 
all  literary  matters  out  of  my  head  :  your  letter  wast  lost ;  and  of 
Dr  Home's  pamphlet  I  heard  nothing  more,  till  this  last  summer, 
when  Lord  Mansfield  asked  me,  whether  I  had  seen  it,  speaking  of 
it  at  the  same  time  in  terms  of  the  highest  approbation.  I  was 
forced  to  confess  I  had  not  seen  it,  and  never  heard  of  it  but  once  j 
and,  to  account  for  this,  I  told  his  Lordship  what  I  have  now  told 
you.  At  Oxford,  you  will  probably  remember,  that  I  found  it  in 
the  beginning  of  July  last,  and  then  it  was,  that  I  knew  for  the  first 
time  the  extent  of  my  obligations  to  Dr  Home.  I  wished  imme- 
diately, as  you  know,  to  pay  my  respects  to  him,  but  he  was  gone 
out  of  town.  Since  my  return  from  England,  I  find  the  pamphlet 
has  given  universal  satisfaction  ;  and  some  of  my  friends  have 
wished,  that  a  small  and  cheap  edition  of  it  could  be  printed,  and 
circulated  all  over  the  country,  as  they  think  it  might  counterwork 
the  unwearied  efforts  which  Mr  Hume's  friends  have  long  been 
making  to  extol  his  chai'acter,  and  depress  mine." 


LETTER  CLVL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  18th  August,  1782. 

"  I  HAD  the  honour  to  receive  your  Grace's  letter,  and  the 
noble  present  inclosed  in  it,*  just  as  I  was  setting  out  for  Edin- 
burgh. After  many  attempts  to  thank  you  for  it,  and  to  tell  you 
Jiow  much  I  glory  in  it,  I  find  I  must  at  last  confine  my  gratitude 

•  A  portrait  of  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  347 

and  my  exultations  to  my  own  breast ;  having  no  words  that  can 
in  any  degree  do  them  justice.  It  is  indeed  a  most  charming  pic- 
ture, and  an  exact  copy  of  Sir  Joshua's ;  and  I  am  envied  the 
possession  of  it  by  every  one  who  sees  it.  Mr  Smith  has  outdone 
himself  on  the  occasion ;  I  am  exceedingly  obliged  to  him. 

"  Your  Grace  will  perhaps  remember,  that  at  Gordon  Castle 
there  was  some  conversation  about  Petrarch.  Knowing  that  it  was 
the  custom  of  his  age  to  write  gallant  verses  ;  and  conjecturing, 
from  other  circumstances,  that  his  passion  for  Laura  Avas  not  so 
serious  a  business  as  his  French  biographer  pi-etends,  I  happened 
to  say,  that  there  was  some  reason  to  think,  that  he  wrote  his 
Italian  sonnets  as  much  to  display  his  wit  as  to  declare  his  passion. 
I  have  since  made  some  discoveries  in  regard  to  this  matter,  which 
amount  to  what  follows  : 

"  That  Petrarch's  passion  for  the  lady  was  so  far  sincere,  as  to 
give  him  uneasiness,  appears  from  an  account  of  his  life  and 
character,  written  by  himself  in  Latin  prose,  and  prefixed  to  a  folio 
edition  of  his  works,  of  which  I  have  a  copy,  printed  in  the  year 
1554.  But  that  his  love  was  of  that  permanent  and  overwhelming 
nature,  which  some  writers  suppose,  or  that  it  continued  to  the  end 
of  his  life,  (as  a  late  writer  affirms)  there  is  good  reason  to  doubt, 
upon  the  same  authority.  Nay,  there  is  presumptive,  and  even 
positive  evidence  of  the  contrary ;  and  that  he  was  less  subject, 
than  most  men  can  pretend  to  be,  to  the  tyranny  of  the  "  Winged 
"  Boy." 

"  The  presumptive  evidence  is  founded  on  the  very  laborious 
life  which  he  must  have  led  in  the  pursuits  of  literature.  His 
youth  was  employed  in  study,  at  a  time  when  study  vv^as  extremely 
difficult,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  books  and  of  teachers.  He 
became  the  most  learned  man  of  his  time ;  and  to  his  labour  in 
transcribing  several  ancient  authors,  with  his  own  hand,  we  are 
indebted  for  their  preservation.  His  works,  in  my  edition  of  them, 
fill  1455  folio  pages,  closely  printed  ;  of  which  the  Italian  Sonnets 
are  not  more  than  a  twentieth  part :  the  rest  being  I^atin  Essays, 
Dialogues,  &c.  and  an  epic  poem  in  Latin  verse,  called  "  Africa," 
as  long  as  "  Paradise  Lost."  His  retirement  at  Vaucluse,  (which 
in  Latin  he  calls  Clausa)  Avas  by  no  means  devoted  to  love  and 
Laura.  "  There,"  says  he,  in  the  account  of  his  life  above  men- 
tioned, "  almost  all  the  works  I  ever  published  were  completed,  or 


S48  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  begun,  or  planned:  and  they  were  so  many,"  these  are  his  words, 
"  that  even  to  these  years  they  employ  and  fatigue  me."  In  a 
word,  Petrarch  wrote  more  than  I  could  transcribe  in  twenty  years ; 
and  more  than  I  think  he  could  have  composed,  though  he  had 
studied  without  intermission,  in  forty.  Can  it  be  believed,  that  a 
man  of  extreme  sensibility,  pining,  from  twenty-five  to  the  end  of 
his  life,  in  hopeless  love,  could  be  so  zealous  a  student,  and  so 
voluminous  a  writer? 

"  But  more  direct  evidence  we  have  from  himself,  in  his  own 
account  above  mentiontd,  of  his  life,  conversation,  and  character. 
I  must  not  translate  the  passage  literally,  on  account  of  an  indeli- 
cate word  or  two  ;  but  I  shall  give  the  sense  of  it :  "  In  my  youth 
"  I  was  violently  in  love  ;  but  it  was  only  once  ;  and  the  passion  was 
"  honourable,  or  virtuous  ;  and  would  have  continued  longer,  if  the 
"  flame,  already  decaying.^  had  not  been  extinguished  by  a  death, 
"  which  was  bitter  indeed,  but  useful."  And  a  little  after  he  says : 
<'  Before  I  was  forty  years  of  age,  I  had  banished  from  my  mind 
"  every  idea  of  love,  as  effectually  as  if  I  had  never  seen  a  woman." 
He  adds  some  things,  in  a  strain  of  bitterness,  execrating  the  bel/e 
pafsion,  as  what  he  had  always  hated  as  a  vile  and  a  disgraceful 
servitude. 

"  In  the  above  passage,  your  Grace  will  observe,  that  Petrarch 
does  not  name  his  mistress.  This,  if  we  consider  the  manners  of 
that  age,  and  the  piety  and  good  sense  of  Petrarch,  may  make  us 
doubt  whether  Laura  was  really  the  object  of  his  passion.  I  had 
this  doubt  for  a  little  while  :  but  Hieronymo  Squarzafichi,  a  writer 
of  that  age,  and  the  author  of  another  Latin  Life  of  Petrarch,  pre- 
fixed to  the  same  edition  of  his  works,  positively  says,  that  the 
name  of  the  lady  whom  the  poet  loved  was  Lauretta,  which  her 
admirer  changed  to  Laura.  The  name,  thus  changed,  supplies 
him  with  numberless  allusions  to  the  laurel,  and  to  the  story  of 
Apollo  and  Daphne,  Might  not  Petrarch,  in  rnany  of  his  sonnets, 
have  had  an  allegorical  reference  to  the  poetical  laurel,  which  was 
offered  him  at  one  and  the  same  time  by  deputies  from  France  and 
from  Italy ;  and  with  which,  to  his  great  satisfaction,  he  was  actu- 
ally crowned  at  Rome  with  the  customary  solemnities  ?  In  this 
view,  his  love  of  fame  and  of  poetry  would  happily  coincide  with 
his  tenderness  for  Laura,  and  give  peculiar  enthusiasm  to  such  of 
his  thoughts  as  might  relate  tp  any  one  of  the  three  passions. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  349 

"  But  how,  you  will  say,  is  all  this  to  be  reconciled  to  the  ac- 
count given  by  the  French  author  of  that  Life  of  Petrarch,  which 
Mrs  Dobson  has  abridged  in  English  ? 

"  I  answer  :  First,  That  Petrarch's  own  account  of  his  life,  in 
serious  prose,  is  not  to  be  called  in  question;  and.  Secondly,  That 
to  a  French  biographer,  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  no  degree  of  credit 
is  due.  I  have  seen  pretended  lives,  in  French,  of  Horace,  Tibul- 
lus,  Propertius,  &c.  in  which  there  was  hardly  one  word  of  truth  ; 
the  greatest  part  being  fable,  and  that  sort  of  declamation  which 
some  people  call  sentiment.  And  your  Grace  knows,  that  no  other 
character  belongs  to  the  "  Bellisarius"  and  "  Incas  of  Peru" 
by  Marmontel.  The  French  life  of  Petrarch  I  consider  in  the 
same  light ;  and  that  what  is  said  of  his  manuscript  letters  and 
memoirs,  is  no  better  than  a  job  contrived  by  the  bookseller,  and 
executed  by  the  author." 


LETTER  CLVII. 

JOHN  SCOTT*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Ratcliff-cross,  London,  10th  May,  1782. 

"  ACCEPT  my  best  thanks  for  thy  very  kind  and  accepta- 
ble letter.     I  am  now  happy  enough  to  be  able  to  say,  that  I  have 

*  John  Scott  of  Amrtxll,  near  Ware,  in  Hertfordshire,  was,  as  this  letter 
indicates,  one  of  the  people  called  Qjiakers  ;  a  poet  of  no  mean  genius,  as 
his  Eclogues,  Elegies,  Odes,  and  other  pieces  which  have  been  collected 
and  published,  amply  testify.  His  two  longest  works  are,  "  Amweli,"  a 
descriptive  poem,  and  an  "  Essay  on  Painting."  He  was  not  less  distin- 
guished by  the  blameless  simplicity  of  his  manners,  than  by  the  warmth  of 
his  friendship,  and  the  activity  of  his  benevolence.  Though  bred  to  no  pro- 
fession, he  was  far  from  leading  a  life  of  idleness  or  inactivltj^ ;  but  while 
he  amused  himself  with  poetry  and  gardening,  of  which  he  was  uncommonly 
fond,  he  employed  much  of  his  time  in  works  of  public  utility  in  the  vicinity 
of  his  residence.  He  published  a  pamphlet  full  of  good  sense  and  philan- 
tlirophy,  entitled,  "  Observations  on  tlie  Present  State  of  the  Parochial  and 
"  Vagrant  Poor."  H«;  frequently  interfered  in  their  distresses,  and  was 
ever  ready  to  stand  forward  as  the  arbitrator  of  differences  among  his  neigh- 


35fl  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

finished  my  volume  of"  Poems."  I  shall  wait,  with  some  anxiety, 
for  my  fiiend's  opinion  of  some  of  the  contents,  particularly  the 
"  Oriental  Eclogues,"  the  "  Mexican  Prophecy,"  and  the  "  Essay 
on  Painting ;"  for  on  these,  as  far  as  I  can  trust  my  own  judgment, 
I  think  must  much  depend  the  rank  I  may  be  allowed  to  hold  as  a 
poet.  I  should  like  also  to  know  which  of  the  smaller  odes  most 
obtained  my  friend's  approbation.  The  "  Essay  on  Painting"  was 
an  after-thought ;  it  was  begun  when  the  previous  part  of  the  book 
was  printed,  and  finished  in  about  five  weeks  ;  it  was,  therefore,  a. 
hasty,  though  I  hope  not  an  incorrect,  performance.  I  had  de- 
signed (as  I  mention  in  the  introduction)  something  of  this  kind 
long  before  Hayley's  "  Epistle  to  Romney"  appeared,  but  had  laid 
it  aside.  Happening  to  write  a  few  lines  on  the  subject,  with  an 
intent  to  introduce  them  into  another  poem,  where  I  afterwards 
found  them  not  easy  introducible,  and  thinking  them  too  good  to 
be  lost,  I  determined  on  the  work  in  question,  where  I  knew  they 
•would  appear  with  propi  iety.  Thus,  from  very  small,  and  indeed 
unforeseen  circumstances,  things  of  some  importance  often  arise. 
I  endeavoured,  as  much  as  possible,  to  avoid  the  same  ground  that 
Hayley  had  trodden.  On  Landscape  he  had  said  little;  I  had 
therefore  room  to  expatiate.  On  Portrait  he  had  said  much; 
and  I  was  necessitated  to  say  something;  but  even  there  I  wished 

hours.  In  general,  he  seems  to  have  imitated  the  philanthrophy  of  that 
well-known  character,  "  The  Man  of  Ross."  Dr  Beattie,  with  whom, 
among  other  literary  persons,  hf  had  become  acquainted,  and  between 
whom  a  similarity  of  taste  had  produced  an  intimate  friendship,  alludes,  in 
one  of  his  letters.f  to  this  part  of  Mr  Scott's  character:  "  I  am  astonish- 
"  ed,"  say  Dr  Beattie,  "  at  the  activity  of  your  mind,  and  the  versatility 
"  of  your  genius.  It  is  really  amazing,  that  one  and  the  same  person  should, 
*'  in  one  and  the  same  year,  pubhsh  the  most  elegant  poems,  and  a  '  Digest 
*'  of  Laws  relating  to  the  Highways.'  Go  on.  Sir,  in  your  laudable  resolu- 
"  tion  of  delighting  and  instructing  mankind,  of  patronizing  the  poor,  and 
*'  promoting  the  public  weal." 

This  amiable  man  died  of  a  putrid  fever  at  London,  the  12th  December, 
1783,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

See  a  well-written  life,  and  critical  remarks  on  his  works,  by  Dr  Ander- 
son, prefixed  to  his  poems  in  the  *'  British  Poets,"  Vol.  XI.  p.  717. 

+  In  1773,  with  a  friendly  zeal,  lie  undertook  the  defence  of  his  friend  Dr  Beattie,  from  an 
anonymous  attack  in  "  The  Gentleman's  Magazine"  for  January,  in  a  letter  in  the  same  Maga- 
line  for  March  following,  to  which  he  signed  his  name,  and  received  Dr  Beattie's  acknowledge, 
nients  un  the  occasion . 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  351 

iiot  to  imitate,  but  rather  to  rival,  my  predecessor.  Hayley's 
piece  has  great  merit,  but  is  tedious  from  its  length  and  inequality. 
That  kind  of  rhyming  prose,  used  by  Dryden  in  his  earlier  works, 
seems  coming  much  into  fashion ;  but  1  am  clear  it  must  be  a 
vicious  taste  that  gives  it  encouragement.  For  the  couplet  versi- 
fication, we  have  no  better  model  than  that  of  Pope  ;  or  if  that  can 
be  at  all  improved,  it  must  be  by  a  sparing  use  of  Dryden's  manner 
in  what  (notwithstanding  I  have  the  authority  of  Johnson  against 
me)  I  do  not  hesitate  to  call  the  best  poetry  he  ever  wrote,  his 
"  Tales"  and  "  Fables."  Anoth<;r  vicious  mode  of  composition 
seems  also  to  be  gaining  ground,  whicii,  it  adopted,  M-iil  almost  ab- 
solutely destroy  the  distinction  between  two  species  of  wiiting, 
which  should  be  ever  kept  separate,  rhyme  and  blank  verse :  I 
mean,  breaking  the  lines  of  couplets  ;  or,  in  other  words,  running' 
the  sense  too  much  from  one  line  to  another.  This  is  counte- 
nanced by  one  very  good  poet,  Meikle,  translator  of  the  "  Lusiad," 
who,  in  a  fine  poem,  entitled  "  Almada-hill,"  has  practised  it  to  an 
excess,  and  by  that  means  injured  his  poetry.  I  am  told  Mason  is 
about  a  translation  of  Fresnoy's  "  Poem  on  Painting."  The  origi- 
nal, as  far  as  I  can  judge,  reads  flat  and  dry.  Dryden's  prose  vei-- 
sion  does  not  mend  it.  What  charms  Mason's  poetical  powers 
may  bestow  upon  it,  I  do  not  pretend  to  determine.  There  i§ 
more  in  expression  than  weai'e  often  aware  of.  The  same  thought 
in  different  language  will  disgust  or  delight  us.  So  just  is  the 
axiom  of  Pope, — 

'•  True  wit,*  is  nature  to  advantage  dressed  ; 

"  What  oft  was  thought,  but  ne'er  so  well  expressed." 

"  I  believe  I  mentioned  in  a  former  letter,  that  I  had  seen  Bry- 
ant on  the  "  Rowleyan  Controversy,"  and  that  Dean  Mills  had 
published  a  pompous  quarto  edition  of  the  author.  Both  these 
gentlemen  have  been  completely  answered,  in  a  very  good  and 
decisive  pamphlet,  by  Mr  Thomas  Warton;  and  Mills  has  been 
most  severely  ridiculed  in  an  archaiological  epistle.  This  is  an 
excellent  performance  of  the  serio-humorous  kind :  it  is  pretty 

*  I  sliould  rather  have  said  true  poetry ;  or  indeed  good  composition  of 
any  species. 


352  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

boldly  attributed  to  Mason  j  but  I  scarcely  think  it  is  his.  Mason 
has  given  us  nothing  avowedly  his  own,  but  of  the  sublime  or 
pathetic  as  far  as  I  can  recollect.  I  should  rather  fix  this  new  pro- 
duction on  the  yet  undiscovered  author  of  the  famous  "  Heroic 
"  Epistle ;"  they  certainly  breathe  the  same  spirit  of  poetry  and 
politics. 

"  Did  I  ever  mention  Dr  Johnson's  prefaces?  My  friend  has 
doubtless  seen  that  fund  of  entertainment  and  information ;  of 
striking  observations  and  useful  reflections;  of  good  sense,  and  of 
illiberal  prejudices  ;  of  just  and  of  unjust  criticism.  That  a  mind, 
so  enlarged  as  Johnson's  in  some  respects,  should  be  so  confined 
in  others,  is  amazing.  The  titled  scribblers  of  the  last  century ;  the 
prosaic  Denham,  the  inane  and  quaint  Yalden,  and  even  the  Grub- 
street,  Pomfret,  meet  with  all  possible  favour.  Every  man  who  ex- 
presses sentiments  of  religious  or  political  liberty  ;  every  man  who 
writes  in  blank  verse,  or  writes  pastoral ;  and  every  man  contem- 
porary with  himself — is  sure  to  meet  with  no  mercy.  To  Biack- 
more,  I  think,  he  has  done  but  justice.  Blackmore,  with  all  his  ab- 
surdities, was  a  poet;  his  poem  on  the  "  Ci'eation"  (tedious  as  it 
is)  sufficiently  proves  it.  Pope  and  his  brother  wits  Avere  too  hard 
upon  Blackmore :  it  was  very  well  to  point  out  his  faults,  but  un- 
generous to  stigmatize  him  as  an  absolute  dunce.  Dr  Johnson  has 
very  properly  estimated  the  merits  of  Prior,  whose  poetical  powers 
were  too  highly  rated  by  the  readers  of  his  own  time ;  though  it 
must  be  allowed,  that  much  of  his  "  Solomon,"  and  some  of  his 
"  Henry  and  Emma,"  is  real  poetry.  Dyer,  Shenstone,  Collins, 
Akenside,  and  Gray,  are  the  authors  whom  I  most  regret  as  suf- 
ferers by  Johnson's  unjust  censure  :  and  what  must  one  think  of 
the  critic's  taste,  who  could  prefer  Dryden's  wretched,  conceited 
"  Ode  on  Mrs  Killigrew,"  to  the  "  British  Bard"  of  our  English 
Pindar  ? 

"  As  soon  as  thy  health  and  avocations  will  permit.  I  shall  be 
glad  of  a  few  lines  from  a  friend,  whose  correspondence  i^  always, 
highly  acceptable." 


j^IFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  353 


LETTER  CLVIII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM    FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  25th  October,  1782. 

"  ELPHINSTON's  "  Martial"  is  just  come  to  hand.  It  is 
truely  an  unique.  The  specimens  formerly  published  did  very 
well  to  laugh  at ;  but  a  whole  quarto  of  nonsense  and  gibberish,  is 
too  much.  It  is  strange  that  a  man,  not  wholly  illiterate,  should 
have  lived  so  long  in  England,  without  learning  the  language. 

"  I  have  lately  been  very  much  entertained  and  instructed  with 
a  work,  of  a  different  nature,  which  will  do  honour  to  this  country, 
and  be  a  blessing  to  mankind,  Dr  Campbell's  "  Translation  of  the 
"  Four  Gospels,"  with  explanatory  and  critical  annotations.  I 
have  revised  tlie  first  eighteen  chapters  of  Matthew  ;  and  am  really 
astonished  at  the  learning  and  accuracy  of  tne  author.  He  had  be- 
fore given  the  world  sufficient  proofs  of  both ;  but  this  will  be  his 
greatest  work.  It  will  be  accompanied  with  preliminary  disserta- 
tions, for  explaining  what  could  not  be  conveniently  ilustrated  in 
notes.  I  have  read  the  titles  of  the  Dissertations,  and  shall  soon 
have  them  in  my  hands.  The  whole  will  make,  as  I  guess,  two 
quarto  volumes.  I  have  several  times  studied  the  Gospels  in  the 
original ;  but  had  no  idea,  till  now,  that  the  common  translation 
stood  so  much  in  need  of  a  revisal." 


LETTER  CLIX. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  30th  January,  1783. 

"  I  LATELY  had  the  happiness  to  receive  from  the  Bishop 
ef  Chester  the^Jmost  agreeable  accounts  of  your  health  ,  which  no 
perplexities  of  my  own  can  ever  make  me  cease,  even  for  a  single 
hour,  to  be  interested  in. 

2  V 


354  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIEv 

"  Your  little  godson,  who  was  all  last  summer  in  the  coun- 
try, returned  home  in  October,  and  since  that  time  has  been  under 
my  own  inspection ;  which,  till  now,  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  my  family  did  not  permit  him  to  be.     I  found  him  wild  and  not 
very  tractable  ;  though  not  destitute  either  of  affection  or  of  gene- 
rosity. He  had  been  committed  to  the  care  of  people,  who  it  seems 
thought  it  too  soon  to  inure  him  to  moral  discipline.     But  as  that 
part  of  education  cannot,  in  my  opinion,  begin  too  early,  I  have 
been  combating  his  evil  habits  with  all  the  caution  and  steadiness 
I  am  ^master  of ,  and  my  success  has  been  not  inconsiderable.     I 
have  taught  him  to  fear  my  anger  above  every  thing  (for  he  is  too 
young  to  be  impressed  with  any  fear  of  a  higher  kind)  ;  amd  I  find, 
that  the  more  he  fears  the  more  he  loves  me.     His  brother  co- 
operates with  me  in  this  good  work  ;  and  I  hope  we  shall  in  time 
make  him  a  very  good  boy.     He  is  stout  and  healthy,  and  the  pic- 
ture of  good  humour  and  good  cheer,  and  a  very  great  favourite  in 
the  neighbourhood.     Bodily  correction  I  have  never  used  as  yet ; 
considering  it  as  a  dangerous  remedy,  which  ought  not  to  be   had" 
recourse  to,  till  all  others  have  been  tried  and  found  ineffectual. 
My  other  boy  is  busy  at  his  French  and  Greek.    I  thought  him  too 
young  to  go  into  the  higher  classes,  and  have  made  him   study  the 
elements  of  Greek  a  second  time.     He  is  not,  I  think,  very  lucky 
in  a  French  master.     The  man  speaks  the  language  well  enough,, 
but  does  not  seem  to  be  an  exact  grammarian  :   however,  my  boy 
knows  grammar  pretty  well,  and  has  always  been  accustomed  to 
study  with  accuracy  ;  so  that  I  hope  he  is  in  no  danger  of  getting 
into  habits  of  superficial  reading. 

"  We  have  been  here,  and  still  are,  in  great  apprehensions  of 
famine.  Last  summer  was  cold  and  tempestuous  beyond  imagina- 
tion ;  and  in  many  parts  of  the  country  there  was  little  or  no  har- 
vest. Oatmeal,  without  which  our  common  people  have  no  notion 
of  supporting  life,  sells  just  now  at  double  its  usual  price  ;  and  the 
common  people  are  murmuring  ;  and  anonymous  letters,  in  a 
threatening  style,  have  been  sent  to  many  persons.  In  no  other 
part  of  Scotland  is  the  scarcity  so  great  as  in  this  town  and  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  I  believe  it  is  the  fear  of  the  military  alone  that  pre- 
vents insurrection. 

"  I  am  just  now  informed,  that  preliminaries  of  peace  with 
France  and  Spain  are  signed,  and  that  a  cessation  of  hostilities  is 


LIFE  -OF  DR  BEATTIE.  355 

agreed  on  with  the  Dutch.  The  news  is  certainly  very  agreeable 
if  the  conditions  be  bvit  moderately  good.  Whether  our  separation 
from  America  will  be  beneficial  or  hurtful,  either  to  this  country  or 
to  that,  is,  I  think,  doubtful :  but  such  a  separation  must  have  hap- 
pened soon ;  and  I  wish  it  had  happened  forty  years  sooner, 
Though  our  empire  is  diminished  in  extent,  our  national  honour  is 
«ot  impaired ;  and  our  enemies,  notwithstanding  what  tliey  have 
gained,  and  we  have  lost,  have  no  cause  of  triumph. 

"  My  new  book  has  been  in  the  press  for  some  time  ;  aad  I 
have  now  received  sixteen  sheets  of  it,  which  is  about  one-fifth  of 
the  whole.  It  is  a  quarto,  of  the  same  size  nearly  with  my  last ; 
and,  what  I  have  seen,  is  very  correctly  printed.  The  proprietor, 
Mr  Strahan,  thinks  it  will  be  ready  for  publication  in  the  spring. 
I  am  afraid  the  plainness  and  simplicity  of  the  style  will  not  hit  the 
taste  of  the  present  race  of  orators  and  critics  ^  who  seem  to  think, 
that  the  old  English  tongue,  and  the  old  English  constitution,  stand 
equally  in  need  of  change.  Their  reasonings,  however,  have  not 
yet  satisfied  me,  that  our  forefathers  were  at  all  inferior  to  us  m 
the  arts  either  of  writing,  or  of  government.  My  models  of  English 
are  Addison,  and  those  who  write  like  Addison,  particularly  your^ 
self,  madam,  and  Lord  Lyttelton.  We  may  be  allowed  to  imitate 
what  we  cannot  hope  to  equal ;  nay,  I  think  we  are,  in  every  laudable 
pursuit,  commanded  by  all  the  great  teachers  of  mankiaid  to  do  so. 

"  The  literary  labours  of  Lord  Kaimes  have  come  to  a;n  end  ai 
last.  He  was  certainly  an  extraordinary  man  :  and  though  he 
cannot  be  vindicated  in  every  thing,  his  enemies  must  allov/  that 
his  mind  was  uncommonly  active,  and  his  industry  indefatigable. 
He  was  six-and-fifty  years  an  author  :  for  to  a  Collection  of  Deci- 
sions, dated  in  1726,  I  have  seen  a  preface  of  his  writing.  Pie 
retained  his  good  humour  to  the  last.  He  and  I  misunderstood 
one  another  for  several  years  ;  but  we  were  thoroughly  reconciled 
long  before  his  death,  and  he  ackn.owIedged,  that  he  had  utterly 
mistaken  my  character. 

"  I  am  very  happy  to  find,  that  my  notions,  in  regard  to  the 
origin  of  language,  coincide  so  exactly  with  yours.  I  have,  I  think, 
confuted  Monboddo's  theory;  which  I  look  upon  as  equally  absurd 
and  dangerous.  He  and  Lord  Kaimes  passed  a  few  days  last 
autumn  together  at  Gordon  Castle,  and  gave  no  little  entertainment 
to  the  company  j  for  they  two  were  in  every  thing  direct  opposites  j 


356  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

and  they  mutually  despised  and  detested  each  other.  Kaitnes 
confessed,  that  he  understood  no  Greek  ;  and  Monboddo  told  him, 
that  no  man  who  was  ignorant  of  Greek  could  pretend  to  write  a 
page  of  good  English.  Monboddo  has  many  good  qualities:  but 
on  the  subject  of  Greek  and  of  Aristotle,  he  is  as  absurd  and  as 
pedantic  as  Don  Quixote  was  on  that  of  chivalry.  The  last  time  I 
saw  him,  1  incensed  him  to  the  highest  degree  by  calling  the  great 
circumnavigator  Cook  an  ingenious  philosopher.  It  was  to  no 
purpose  that  I  explained  the  sense  in  which  I  used  the  word,  and 
told  him,  that  hy  /ihilosojihy  I  meant,  the  knaiuledge  of  nature  applied 
to  practical  and  usfful  purposes  :  he  seemed  to  think  that  I  had 
offered  an  insult  to  science,  by  calling  a  man  a  philosopher,  whose 
only  merit,  he  said,  was  "  that  of  being  a  good  seaman,  even  as  one 
"  may  be  an  expert  shoemaker  or  tailor,  and  who,  besides,  was  of 
"  an  obscvxre  origin  :  for  I  hold,"  said  he,  "  that  in  men,  as  well  as 
"  in  horses,  nothing  can  be  great  but  what  is  noble."  It  was,  indeed, 
in  opposition  to  this  notable  aphorism,  that  I  had  mentioned  the 
name  of  Cook,  with  that  encomium  which  provoked  the  wrath  of 
Monboddo." 


LETTER  CLX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  2d  March,  1783. 

"  I  HAVE  been  more  idle,  and  more  in  company,  this  winter 
than  I  used  to  be  ;  which  the  doctor  tells  me  is  good  for  my  health. 
But  I  have  not  been  quite  idle.  I  have  revised,  with  all  the  atten- 
tion 1  am  master  of,  Dr  Campbell's  new  translation  of  Matthew  and 
Mai'k,  with  the  notes  upon  it,  and  ten  or  twelve  of  his  preliminary 
dissertations  ;  and  that  this  revisal  has  been  the  work  of  some  time, 
you  will  readily  believe,  when  I  tell  you,  that  I  have  written,  of  criti- 
cal remarks,  not  less  than  seventy  or  eighty  quarto  pages.  Many 
of  these  indeed  I  thought  of  little  moment ;  but  as  lovers  before 
marriage  are  advised  to  be  as  quick-sighted,  and  after  marriage  as 
blind  as  possible,  to  one  another's  faults,  so  I  consider  it  as  my  duty 
to  be  as  captious  as  possible  in  the  revisal  of  a  friend's  work  before 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  357 

publication,  and  when  it  is  published  to  be  captious  no  longer. 
The  Principal,  however,  is  pleased  to  think  more  favourably  than  I 
do  of  my  strictures,  and  tells  me  he  has  adopted  nine-tenths  of 
them.  Of  the  translation  of  Luke  and  John,  and  the  notes  upon  it, 
and  of  four  or  five  more  preliminary  dissertations,  he  has  the  ma- 
terials almost  ready  ;  but  they  are  not  yet  put  together.  The 
whole  will  amount  to  two  large  quartos  at  least ;  and  will,  in  my 
opinion,  be  one  of  the  most  important  publications  that  has  appeared 
in  our  time.  It'is  really  a  treasure  of  theological  learning,  exact 
criticism,  and  sound  divinity  ;  and  has  given  me  more  information, 
in  regard  to  what  may  be  called  scriptural  knowledge,  than  all  the 
other  books  I  ever  I'ead.  His  translation  conveys  the  meaning  of 
the  original  very  correctly,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  observe,  neither 
adds  nor  takes  away  a  single  idea  ;  but  I  have  told  him,  that  I  wish 
it  had  been  more  strictly  literal,  and  more  conformable  to  the  Greek 
(or  rather  to  the  Hebrew)  idiom,  which  is  in  many  things  congenial 
to  the  English.  His  love  of  conciseness  makes  him  sometimes 
less  simple,  though  perhaps  not  less  expressive,  than  the  original, 
and  sometime  less  harmonious  than  the  common  version.  But  I 
Jjelieve  most  of  the  passages  of  this  sort,  that  I  objected  to,  will  be. 
mended." 


LETTER  CLXL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON, 

Aberdeen,  16th  March,  1783. 

"  I  DO  not  wonder  that  your  Grace  should  be  greatly  affect- 
ed with  Lord  Kaimes's  kind  remembrance  in  the  hour  of  death. 
Friendship,  that  can  stand  such  a  test,  must  be  very  sincere  indeed. 
But  you  have  other  friends,  who  are  capable  of  all  this,  though 
perhaps  it  may  not  be  in  their  power  to  show  it.  Recollection  and 
composure  are  not  granted  to  all,  in  those  awful  moments.  On  his 
own  account,  his  death  is  not  to  be  regretted  ;  but  Mrs  Drum- 
mond*  is  much  to  be  pitied.    No  man  ever  enjoyed  life  more  than 

*  The  wife  of  Lord  Kaimes.     She  assumed  the  name  of  Drummond,  on 
succeeding  to  her  family  estate,  on  the  death  of  her  nephew. 


358  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

he ;  and,  when  we  consider  how  little  time  he  passed  in  sleep,  we 
cannot  suppose* his  age  to  be  less  than  one  liundred  and  twenty. 
All  his  wishes,  with  respect  to  this  world,  were  gratified ;  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  think,  that  his  life  could  have  been  prolonged 
without  a  prolongation  of  pain.  I  hope  he  employed  a  good  hand 
to  draw  the  picture.  A  good  portrait  of  a  dear  friend  is  inestima- 
ble ;  but  an  indifferent  one  is  a  daily  and  an  hourly  grievance. 
As  I  wish  to  die  satisfied  with  every  body,  it  gives  me  great  plea- 
sure to  think,  that  before  his  death,  he  became  satisfied  with  me } 
this,  and  many  other  good  things,  I  owe  to  your  Grace. 

"  I  need  not  attempt  to  express  what  I  feel,  in  consequence  of 
that  kind  invitation  which  your  Grace  and  the  Duke  have  honoured 
■me  with.  I  have  been  long  accustomed  to  his  Grace's  goodness 
and  your's  in  this  particular  :  but  I  trust  my  gratitude  is  as  lively 
as  it  was  at  the  first.  If  my  health  would  permit,  and  if  I  could 
get  my  family  properly  settled,  nothing  would  hinder  me  from, 
setting  out  for  Gordon  Castle  the  first  or  second  week  of  April." 


LETTER  CLXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  HONOURABLE  MR  BARON  GORDON. 


Aberdeen,  30th  March,  1783. 

"  I  REALLY  do  not  know  what  to  say,  or  what  to  think,  of 
the  times.  They  seem  to  exhibit  scenes  of  confusion,  which  are 
too  extensive  for  my  poor  head  either  to  arrangeor  to  comprehend. 
We  had  much  need  of  peace  ;  but  I  know  not  whether  we  have 
reason  to  rejoice  in  the  peace  we  have  made.  Yet  Lord  Shelburne 
spoke  plausibly  for  it ;  but  Lord  Loughborough  was  as  plausible 
,on  the  other  side.  When  a  controversy  turns  upon  a  fact,  in  re- 
gard to  Avhich  the  two  contending  parties  are  likely  never  to  agree, 
a  decision  is  not  to  be  expected  ;  and  people  may  continue  to 
wrangle,  and  to  make  speeches,  till  death ;  like  the  president  of 
the  Robin-Hood,  knock  them  down  with  his  hammer,  without  com- 
ing one  inch  nearer  the  truth  than  they  were  at  first.     This  seems 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  269 

tb  be  the  present  case.  If  we  were  as  much  exhausted,  and  our 
enemies  as  powerful,  as  one  party  affirms,  we  had  nothing  for  it  but 
to  surrender  at  discretion,  and  any  peace  was  good  enough  for  us  : 
but  if  we  were  as  little  exhausted,  and  our  enemies  as  little  powerful 
as  the  other  party  says,  we  might  have  made  a  struggle  or  two  more 
before  we  called  out  for  mercy. 

"  To  the  present  confusion  in  our  councils  I  can  foresee  no  end, 
till  the  rage  of  party  subside,  or  till  the  executive  power  regain 
some  part  of  that  influence,  which  it  has  been  gi'adually  losing  ever 
since  I  was  capable  of  attending  to  public  affairs.  The  encroach- 
ments that  have  lately  been  made  on  the  power  of  the  crown  are  so 
great,  as  to  threaten,  in  my  opinion,  the  subversion  of  the  monar- 
chy. Our  government  is  too  democratical ;  and  what  we  want,  in 
order  to  secure  its  permanence,  is  not  more  liberty,  for  we  have 
too  much,  but  the  operation  of  a  despotical  principle  to  take  place 
in  cases  of  great  public  danger.  If  it  had  not  been  for  this,  the  con- 
sular state  of  Rome  would  not  have  existed  two  hundred  years.  I 
hate  despotism,  and  love  liberty,  as  much  as  any  man  ;  but  because 
medicine  has  sometimes  killed  as  well  as  cured,  I  would  not  for  that 
reason  make  a  vow  never  to  swallow  a  drug  as  long  as  I  lived.  The 
despotical  principle  I  speak  of,  might  be  a  little  violent  in  its  opera- 
tion, like  James's  powders  and  laudanum;  but  if  it  could  allay 
paroxysms  and  fevers  in  the  body-politic,  (which,  by  judicious 
management,  it  certainly  might  do)  it  would  be  a  valuable  addition, 
to  the  materia  medica  af  government." 


LETTER  CLXIII. 


JOHN  SCOTT  TO  DR  BEATTIE, 

Amwell,  29th  Aug-ust,  l^SJ. 

"  I  KNOW  not  what  apology  to  make,  for  not  doing  what 
ought  to  have  been  done  many  weeks  ago.  I  can  only  say,  what  I 
am  sure  my  friend  will  readily  believe,  that  whatever  were  the 
causes  of  my  so  long  delaying  to  answer  his  kind  and  acceptable 
letter,  want  of  regard  for  him  was  not  among  the  number. 


360  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  I  have  read  much  of  the  "  Dissertations,"  *  and  with  niucli 
pleasure.  I  cannot  wish  any  part  of  them  suppressed,  because  I  do 
not  find  them  tedious.  All,  whom  I  have  heard  speak  of  them, 
have  spoken  highly  of  their  merit ;  and  I  believe  they  will  stand 
high  in  the  opinion  of  all  good  judges.  For  my  own  part,  I  have 
read  them  with  an  almost  uninterrupted  correspondence  of  senti- 
ment on  every  occasion.  This  was  very  far  from  being  the  case 
during  my  perusal  of  Dr  Johnson's  "  Lives ;"  I  perused  his  narra- 
tive with  avidity,  and  sometimes  profited  by  his  remarks  ;  but,  in 
general,  I  found  a  forcible  repulsion  to  his  political  and  literary 
opinions,  but  more  to  the  illiberal  manner  in  which  they  are  ex- 
pressed. It  is  strange  so  good  a  writer,  both  in  prose  and  verse, 
should  be  so  ill  a  critic  ;  and  that  a  man,  whose  private  character 
is  so  benevolent,  should,  as  an  author,  indulge  such  contemptuous 
acrimony. 

"  Thy  countryman,  Dr  Blair,  has  published  a  critical  work  ;  I 
have  not  read  it,  a  few  detached  passages  excepted,  which  I  inet 
with  in  the  reviews,  and  as  I  gave  the  volumes  a  cursory  inspection 
as  they  lay  in  a  bookseller's  shop.  I  saw  enough  of  them,  however, 
to  determine  me  to  purchase  them,  as  soon  as  I  have  leisure  for 
reading.  At  present  I  am  much  engaged  with  my  own  intended 
publication,  which  is  in  the  press.  I  believe  I  mentioned  the  nature 
of  this  critical  work  of  mine  in  a  former  letter.  It  will  consist  of  a 
series  of  essays  on  several  celebrated  poems,  by  an  investigation  of 
whose  beauties  and  defects  I  have  exemplified  the  difference  be- 
tween good  and  bad  composition.!  My  criterion  of  merit  is  clas- 
sical simplicity  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  manner  of  Homer,  the  Greek 
tragic  poets,  Virgil,  Milton,  Pope,  in  contradistinction  to  every 
species  of  false  ornament.  There  never  was  a  time  when  it  was 
more  necessary  to  counteract  the  public  taste,  which  is  now  running 
wild  after  this  fashionable  clinquant^  as  I  think  it  is  termed  by 
Addison.  The  poems  I  have  criticised  are,  Denham's  "  Cooper's 
"  Hill,"  of  which  I  have  nothing  to  praise,  and  all  to  censure  ; 
Milton's  "  Lycidas,"  and  Dyer's  "  Ruins  of  Rome,"  which  I  have 


•  Dr  Beattie's  Dissertations,  moral  and  critical,  on  Memory  and  Imagina* 
tion,  &c.  publisKed  this  year. 

t  These  Critical  Essays  were  published  in  1785. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  361 

vindicated  from  the  censure  of  Dr  Johnson,  and  given  the  praise 
they  merit ;  Pope's  "  Windsor  Forest,"  Collins's  "  Oriental 
"  Eclogues,"  Gray's  "  Elegy,"  Goldsmith's  "  Deserted  Village," 
and  Thomson's  "  Seasons  j"  in  all  which  I  have  much  to  applaud, 
and  something  to  blame. 

"  The  Monthly  Reviewers  say,  that  criticism  is  fashionable  ;  J 
hope  then  I  shall  have  the  luck  to  be  for  once  in  the  fashion.  I 
might  often  have  been  in  fashion,  but  for  a  restive  kind  of  disposi- 
tion, that  liked  to  write  and  print  what  pleased  my  own  fancy,  rather 
than  what  I  had  reason  to  think  would  please  the  readers  of  the  day. 
I  never  could  flatter  the  Bath-Easton  establishment,  nor  be  a  can- 
didate for  their  laureat  sprig  of  myrtle  ;  nor  can  I  now  praise  the 
flimsy,  flowery,  inane  productions  of  the  Hayleyian  school.  I  love 
good  poetry,  but  I  cannot  admire  bad,  how  much  soever  it  may  be 
the  ton  to  admire  it. 

"  My  worthy  friend,  Mr  Potter,  in  a  letter  I  received  from  him 
some  time  ago,  requested  me  to  mention  when  I  wrote,  that  he  had 
ordered  Dodsley  to  send  thee  a  copy  of  his  "  Observations  on  Gray,'* 
with  two  or  three  proofs  of  the  head,  which  I  expect  are  before  now 
safely  arrived.  I  know,  by  experience,  how  difficult  it  is  to  get  a 
good  likeness  of  any  person  in  an  engraving  ;  I  am  sure  mine,  pre- 
fixed to  my  poems,  is  not  a  good  one.  Mr  Hoole's  prefixed  to  his 
"  Ariosto,"  is  a  very  good  one,  and  cost  much  less  than  mine.  I 
did  not  know  Gray,  but  somehow  or  other,  from  my  own  ideas  of 
what  such  a  man  should  have  been,  I  am  wholly  of  thy  opinion, 
that  Mason's  print  could  not  be  quite  like  the  original. 

"  As  I  seldom  have  leisure  to  keep  copies  of  my  letters,  I  am 
apt  to  forget,  from  time  to  time,  what  I  have  written ;  I  do  not  now 
recollect,  whether  I  mentioned  in  my  former  letter  two  recent  publi- 
cations, in  the  poetical  way,  of  considerable  merit.  The  one  is  called, 
"  Aurelia,  or  the  Contest,"  a  mock  epic,  in  censure  of  the  ladies  for 
painting  their  faces,  and  other  fashionable  female  foibles.  This  is 
written  by  the  younger  Hoole,  son  of  the  translator  of  "  Ariosto," 
who  published  a  pretty  imitation  of  the  "  Bath  Guide,"  entitled, 
"  Modern  Manners."  He  is  a  young  man,  and  I  think  a  rising 
genius  ;  his  last  poem  has  not  many  faults,  it  is  indeed  rather  too 
long.  The  other  publication  is  called,  "  The  Village,"  a  very  clas- 
sical composition,  but  also  too  long  ;  and  very  unnecessarily,  and  I 
think  absurdly,  divided  into  two  books.     It  seems  designed  as  a 


362  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

contrast  to  Goldsmith's  "  Deserted  Village,"  in  one  point  of  view  ; 
that  is,  so  far  as  Goldsmith  expatiates  on  the  felicities  and  inno- 
cencies  of  rural  life.  The  author  of  "  The  Village"  takes  the  dark 
side  of  the  question  ;  he  paints  all  with  a  sombre  pencil ;  too  justly, 
perhaps,  but,  to  me  at  least,  unpleasingly.  We  know  there  is  no 
unmixed  happiness  in  any  state  of  life,  but  one  does  not  wish  to  be 
perpetually  told  so.  The  author  of  the  above  is  a  Mr  Crabbe,  who 
published  a  poem,  called  "  The  Library,"  about  two  years  ago.  I 
am  told  he  was  an  apprentice  to  a  surgeon  in  Suffolk,  but,  on  the 
display  of  his  poetical  talents,  met  with  friends,  who  advised  him 
to  take  orders,  and  gave  him  a  living.  Literary  merit,  in  this  age, 
rarely  meets  such  encouragement. 

"  I  am  sorry,  my  dear  friend,  to  hear  so  ill  an  account  of  thy 
health.  I  hope  the  sea  air  and  bathing  may  by  this  time  have  had 
their  desired  salutary  effect.  When  health  and  leisure  will  permit, 
I  shall  hope  to  be  favoured  with  a  line.  Thy  correspondence  is 
always  highly  acceptable." 


LETTER  CLXIV. 


CR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  BISHOP  OF  WORCESTER. 

Peterhead,  18th  September,  1783. 

"  YOUR  Lordship's  very  kind  letter,  which  I  had  the  honour 
to  receive  about  six  weeks  ago,  demands  my  most  grateful  acknow- 
ledgments. I  wished  to  have  made  them  sooner,  but  was  prevented 
by  a  tedious  indisposition  ;  from  which,  after  long  perseverance  in 
the  use  of  the  sea-bath  at  this  place,  I  am  now  recovered  so  far  as 
to  be  able  to  attend  a  little  to  the  duties  of  life. 

"  I  knoAV  not  how  to  thank  your  Lordship  for  honouring  my 
book  with  a  perusal;  nor  have  I  words  to  express  the  pleasure 
which  your  approbation  of  it  has  afforded  me.  Some  professed 
critics  have  been  pleased  to  find  much  fault  with  it,  and  with  me  ; 
but  your  favourable  opinion,  my  Lord,  is  more  than  a  sufficient 
counterbalance  to  all  they  have  done,  or  can  do,  and  satisfies  me, 
that  my  endeavours  to  do  a  little  good,  and  give  a  little  harmless 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  sair 

amusement,  have  not  been  wholly  unsuccessful.  Indeed  I  have 
the  happiness  to  find,  that  most  of  those  who  approve  my  principles, 
are  as  friendly  to  this  performance  as  I  could  desire. 

"  I  have  not  yet  met  with  Dr  Blair's  "  Lectures,"  but  I  hear 
they  have  been  very  well  received.  With  respect  to  his  "  Sermons," 
I  am  entirely  of  your  opinion.  Great  merit  they  undoubtedly  have  ; 
but  I  cannot  discover  in  them  that  sublime  simplicity  of  manner 
and  style,  which  I  have  long  thought  essential  to  such  compositions, 
and  have  seen  so  nobly  exemplified  in  those  of  your  Lordship. 

"  Whether  it  will  be  in  my  power  to  prepare  any  more  of  my^ 
papers  for  the  press,  I  know  not ;  but  I  shall  keep  the  thing  in  view  ; 
and,  if  Providence  grant  me  a  moderate  share  of  health  and  spirits, 
shall  consider  it  as  my  indispensable  duty,  as  far  as  1  am  able,  to 
promote  the  love  of  truth,  and  to  oppose  the  licentious  doctrines 
that  many  authors  of  this  age  are  labouring  so  industriously  to 
establish.  Though  my  last  publication  does  not  bear  a  controver- 
sial form,  a  great  part  of  it  was  really  intended,  as  your  Lordship 
observes,  "  to  correct  some  mistakes,  and  obviate  some  abuses,  of 
"  other  writers." 

"  I  would  have  availed  myself,  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  of 
your  Lordship's  most  obliging  invitation  to  Worcestershire  ;  but  I 
am  not  yet  so  well  as  to  undertake  a  journey,  and  the  business  of 
my  profession  will  soon  call  me  to  Aberdeen,  and  confine  me  to  the 
college.  Next  summer  I  hope  I  shall  be  in  a  condition  to  revisit 
England,  and  pay  my  respects  to  your  Lordship  once  more." 


LETTER  CLXV. 

GEORGE  COLMAN,  ESq.*  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Margate,  13th  October,  1783. 

"  I  AM  highly  flattered  by  your  approbation  of  my  explana- 
tion and  version  of  "  Horace's  Epistle,"  and  more  especially  by  your 

*  The  translator  of  Horace's  "Art  of  Poetry,''  of  "  Terence,"  into  fami- 
liar blank  verse ;  and  author  of  some  excellent  comedies,  "  The  Jealous 
"Wife,"  "The  Clandestine  Marriage,"  "The  English  Merchant,"  "  The 
"  Deuce  is  in  Hun,"  and  several  others. 


364  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

exact  coincidence  of  opinion  concerning  the  drift  and  intention  of, 
the  poet ;  whose  purpose  has  long  appeared  to  me  so  very  obvious, 
that  I  have  only  wondered  at  its  having  been  so  strangely  miscon- 
ceived and  mistaken.  Still,  however,  I  was  inclined  to  doubt  and 
suspect  the  treacherous  self-complacency  of  my  own  feelings,  till  I 
found  my  sentiments  confirmed  by  men  of  learning  and  discern- 
ment like  yourself.  I  ought,  however,  in  some  measure,  to  regret 
the  having  innocently  deprived  the  world  of  your  intended  essay  on 
the  subject,  though  that  very  circumstance  inspires  me  with  the 
most  agreeable  confidence  in  the  propriety  of  my  own  undertak- 
ing." 


LETTER  CLXVI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 


Aberdeen,  29th  January,  1784. 

'*  YOUR  Grace  will  do  me  the  justice  to  believe,  that  nothing 
in  which  you  are  interested  can  be  indifferent  to  me.  I  am  very 
much  concerned  to  find,  from  the  general  strain  of  the  letter,  which 
I  had  the  honour  to  receive  a  few  days  ago,  that  your  present  situa- 
tion is  not  quite  agreeable  to  you.  You  will  no  doubt  be  anxious 
and  solitary ;  but  nobody  is  so  Avell  prepai'ed  for  solitude  as  you 
are.  The  resources  you  have  in  your  own  mind,  and  the  pleasure 
you  take  in  superintending  and  instructing  your  charming  young 
friends,  will  make  the  lonely  hours  glide  imperceptibly  away. 

"  I  have  got  one  companion  for  your  Grace,  and  shall  send  him 
by  the  first  opportunity.  It  is  Hoole's  Translation  of  "  Ariosto," 
which  I  have  just  received,  and  which  your  Grace  commissioned 
me  to  order  for  you.  It  fills  five  large  octavo  volumes  ;  the  type 
very  good  and  comfortable  ;  the  prints  only  so  so.  I  know  not 
how  you  will  relish  it ;  but  I  own  it  is  rather  too  extravagant  for 
me.  Spenser  is  not  less  extravagant;  but  the  harmony  of  liis 
numbers,  and  the  beauty  and  variety  of  his  descriptions  and  of  his 
language,  intoxicate  me  into  an  utter  forgetfulness  of  all  the  faults 
of  his  fable.    Hoole  is  a  smooth  versifier  j  but  he  is  rather  a  feeble 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  365 

one.  His  harmony  is  without  variety ;  for  he  knows  not  how  to 
adapt  it  to  the  subject ;  or  rather  his  ear  is  not  delicate  in  per- 
ceiving the  effects  that  words  may  produce  by  their  sound,  as  well 
as  by  their  signification.  This  deficiency,  however,  is  not  peculiar 
to  Hoole ;  he  has  it  in  common  with  Waller,  Lansdowne,  Roscom- 
mon, and  several  other  poets  of  no  inconsiderable  name.  I  for- 
merly attempted  to  read  "  Ariosto"  in  his  own  Italian ;  but  found 
him  tedious,  and  could  not  endure  the  incoherence  of  the  fable. 
I  have  conversed  with  Italians,  and  read  critics  on  the  subject,  but 
never  could  see  the  reason  of  that  preference  which  his  country- 
men give  him  to  the  correct,  the  classical,  the  delightful  Tasso.* 


LETTER  CLXVIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  2d  February,  1784. 

"  MR  DILLY  having  informed  me,  that  a  new  edition  is 
wanted  of  the  "  Minstrel,"  and  the  other  little  poems  subjoined  to 

•  On  this  question,  regarding-  the  respective  poetical  merits  of  Ariosto  and 
Tasso,  see  Baretti's  "  History  of  the  Italian  Tongue,"  prefixed  to  his  "  Italian 
"  Library."!  A  friend  has  informed  me,  (for  I  have  not  been  .">ble  to  meet 
with  the  book  in  this  country)  that  the  finest  piece  of  criticism,  any  where 
to  be  met  with,  on  this  subject,  is  in  a  prose  letter  of  Metastasio's,  at  the 
end  of  one  of  his  two  posthumous  volumes.  He  concurs  in  opinion  with  Dr 
Beattie ;  and,  with  all  due  respect  for  the  critical  abilities  of  Mr  Baretti, 
Metastasio  must  be  allowed  to  be  a  great  authority.  This  letter  of  Metas- 
tasio's, which  is  addressed  to  Ch.  Sig.  Don  Dominico  Diodati,  a  Neapoli- 
tan lawyer,  is  mentioned  by  Tiraboschi  in  his  "  Storia  della  Poesia  Itaiiana,"| 
lately  re-edited  in  London  by  Mr  Mathias,  to  which  those  may  refer  who 
wish  to  see  this  controversy  handled  with  much  critical  accuracy.  Tira- 
boschi, in  highly  praising  the  various  merits  of  those  two  great  poets,  finds 
the  *'  Gierusalemme"  of  Tasso,  and  the  "  Orlando  Furioso"  of  Ariosto, 
so  totally  difterent  in  their  nature,  design  and  execution,  as  not  to  admit  of 
being  brought  into  comparison  with  each  other.  In  various  points,  how- 
ever, such  as,  fertility  of  invention,  powerful  description,  and  felicity  of  ex- 
pression, his  opinion  seems  rather  to  lean  in  favour  of  Ariosto. 

t  P.  WJ.  }  Vol.  III.  part  i.  p.  2S4. 


366  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

to  it,  I  am  now  revising  and  correcting  them  for  the  last  time.. 
Will  you  permit  me,  madam,  to  inscribe  them  to  you?  The  in- 
scription shall  be  short  and  simple;  and,  if  you  please,  in  the 
following  terms : 

To 
MRS  MONTAGU, 

These  little  Poems^ 

J^Tow  revised  mid  corrected 

For  the  last  timcy 

Are, 

With  every  Sentiment  of 

Esteem  and  Gratitude, 

Most  resjiectfully  inscribed 

By  the  Author. 

"  I  have  another  favdur  to  ask,  which  is,  that,  as  I  have  men- 
tioned the  name  of  our  lamented  friend,  Dr  Gregory,  in  the 
concluding  stanza  of  the  second  book  of  the  "  Minstrel,"  you  will 
not  forbid  me  to  insert  yours  in  the  last  stanza  of  the  first.  I  had 
not  the  honour  to  be  known  to  you  when  I  published  that  first 
book  ;  and,  intending  to  put  the  name  of  a  friend  in  the  last  stanza, 
but  being  then  undetermined  with  respect  to  the  person,  I  left  in 
one  of  the  lines  a  blank  space,  which  has  been  continued  in  all  the 
editions.  That  blank,  with  your  permission,  shall  now  be  filled 
up ;  and  then  the  stanza  will  run  thus : 

Here  pause,  my  Gothic  lyre,  a  little  while ; 
The  leisure  hour  is  all  that  thou  canst  claim : 
But  on  tliis  verse  if  Montagu  should  smile. 
New  lays  ere  long  shall  animate  thy  frame  : 
And  her  applause  to  me  is  more  than  fame, 
For  still  with  truth  accords  her  taste  refined. 
At  lucre  or  renown  let  others  aim  ; 
I  only  wish  to  please  the  gentle  mind. 
Whom  nature's  charms  inspire,  and  love  of  humankind. 

"  It  would  give  me  no  little  pleasure  to  see  in  the  same  poem 
the  names  of  Mrs  Montagu  and  Dr  Gregory  ;  tv/o  persons  so  dear 
to  me,  and  who  had  so  sincere  a  friendship  for  one  another.     Be- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  36? 

sides,  madatn,  I  beg  leave  to  put  you  in  mind,  that  the  first  book 
of  the  poem  was  published  at  his  desire,  and  the  second  at  yours. 
So  that  I  have  more  reasons  than  one  for  making  this  request. 
When  this  affair  is  settled,  and  the  volume  revised  once  more,  I 
bid  adieu  to  poetry  for  ever.  I  vv^ish  I  could  say  of  my  voice  what 
Milton  said  of  his  ;  that  it  is 


-Unchanged 


To  hoarse  or  mute,  though  fallen  on  evil  days, 
On  evil  days  though  fallen. 

But,  alas  !  I  am  in  the  condition  of  Virgil's  forlorn  shepherd,  to 
whom  indeed  it  better  becomes  me  to  compare  myself: 

Omnia  fert  aetas,  animum  quoque-     S<epe  ego  longos 
Cantando  pueruin  ineinini  ine  condere  soles. 
Nunc  oblita  milii  tot  cannina :  vox  quoque  Mcerim 
yamfugit  ipsa. 

By  the  bye,  I  have  a  good  mind  to  make  this  a  motto  to  my  little 
poetical  volume." 


LETTER  CLXVIII. 


OR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  HONOURABLE  MR  BARON  GORDON, 


Aberdeen,  Tth  March,  1?'84. 

"  I  OUGHT  to  have  acknowledged  long  ago  the  receipt  of 
your  most  obliging  favour  of  February  1 2th;  but  so  many  cross 
accidents  have  come  in  my  way  of  late,  that  I  had  no  time  to  settle 
to  any  thing.  This  has  been  a  most  dreary  winter  to  me,  and  has, 
I  believe,  run  away  with  several  years  of  my  life  ;  but  I  will  not  at 
present  trouble  you  with  my  lamentations. 

"  Let  me  rather  congratulate  you  on  the  lengthening  day,  the 
dissolution  of  the  frost,  the  approach  of  spring,  and  that  hope  of 
a  long  tract  of  good  Aveather,  which  the  late  season  of  tempest  may 


,368  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

encourage  us  to  entertain.  The  snow  disappears  apace ;  and  all 
this  day  it  has  rained  without  intermission.  You  will  now  get  on 
horseback,  with  Rhastus,  Pholus,  Hylxus,  and  the  rest  of  your 
brethren  ;  and  Virgil's  idea  will  again  be  realized  : 


-Vertice  montis  ab  alto 


Descendunt  Centauri,  Omolen  Othrynque  nivalem 
Linquentes  cursu  rapido  :  dot  euntibus  ingens 
Sylva  locum,  et  magno  cedunt  virgultafragore  ■• 


while  we,  two-legged  and  featherless  animals,  must  be  satisfied  with 
the  "  Secreium  iter  etfallentis  semita  vitte." 

"  I  wish  I  could  also  congratulate  you  on  a  political  thaw,  and 
the  renovation  of  life  and  fluidity  in  our  channels  of  public  busi- 
ness ;  but  there  all  circulation  seems  to  be  at  an  end.  Surely  we 
never  expected  to  see  such  times  as  these.  The  constitution,  I 
am  afraid,  will  receive  a  shock  ;  the  precise  nature  of  which,  how- 
ever, it  is  impossible  to  foresee.  I  admire  the  form  of  our  govern- 
ment as  much  as  any  body  ;  but  I  have  long  thought  the  demo- 
cratical  principle  rather  too  predominant ;  and  if  it  continue  to  gather 
strength,  as  it  has  done  for  these  twenty  years  past,  the  independence 
of  the  two  other  branches  of  the  legislature  will  be  nothing  but  a 
name.  Several  of  our  ancient  statesmen  were  of  opinion,  that 
England  could  never  be  ruined  but  by  a  parliament ;  and  Montes- 
quieu says,  that  this  will  happen,  whenever  the  legislative  power 
shall  become  more  corrupt  than  the  executive.  From  the  execuf 
tive,  at  present,  I  think  we  have  nothing  to  fear;  and  I  am  per- 
suaded, that  the  majority  of  the  nation  is  of  the  same  opinion. 

"  I  hope  Lord  Monboddo  will  live  till  his  metaphysical  quartos 
equal  in  number  the  nine  Muses,  and  the  books  of  his  friend 
Herodotus.  I  am  told  he  is  angry  at  my  last  book,  and  says  I 
know  nothing  of  the  origin  of  language.  If  that  be  the  case,  it 
must  be  in  a  great  measure  his  fault,  as  well  as  my  misfortune ; 
for  I  have  read  all  that  he  has  published  on  that  subject ;  and  I 
have  the  same  access  to  Lucretius  that  he  had. 

"  With  all  the  terrors  oi  singula  de  nobis  anni  fircedantur  before 
my  eyes,  I  have  not  been  able  to  apply  to  any  sort  of  study  this 
winter.     I  had  neither  time  nor  tranquillity  for  such  employment. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  369 

"  The  Principal's  work*  proceeds  apace  ;  and  a  great  work  it 
will  be  :  the  greatest  indeed,  at  least  the  most  important,  of  any 
I  have  ever  seen  in  that  way.  I  have  read  three-fourths  of  it  with 
vast  pleasure,  and  I  hope  no  little  benefit." 


The  two  following  letters  of  Cowper's  were  given  me,  when, 
unpublished,  by  Mr  Hayley,  with  permission  to  make  any  use  of 
them  I  pleased.  He  has  since  printed  them  himself  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  "  Life  of  Cowper."  But  such  delicate,  yet  emphatig 
praise,  of  Dr  Beattie,  from  such  a  writer  as  Cowpei',  is  too  grateful 
to  me  to  be  passed  over  here. 


LETTER  CLXIX. 

'WILLIAM  COWPER,  ESq.  TO  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  UNWIN.f 

5th  April,  1784. 

"  I  THANKED  you  in  my  last  for  Johnson  ;  I  now  thank 
you  with  more  emphasis  for  Beattie, — the  most  agreeable  and 
amiable  writer  I  ever  met  with ;  the  only  author  I  have  seen, 
whose  critical  and  philosophical  researches  are  diversified  and  em- 
bellished by  a  poetical  imagination,  that  makes  even  the  driest 
subject  and  the  leanest,  a  feast  for  an  epicure  in  books.  He  is  so 
much  at  his  ease,  too,  that  his  own  character  appears  in  every  page ; 
and  which  is  very  rare,  we  see  not  only  the  writer,  but  the  man  ;  and 
that  man  so  gentle,  so  well  tempered,  so  happy  in  his  religion,  and 
so  humane  in  his  philosophy,  that  it  is  necessary  to  love  him,  if 
one  has  any  sense  of  what  is  lovely.  If  you  have  not  his  poem, 
called  the  "  Minstrel,"  and  cannot  borrow  it,  I  must  beg  you  to 
buy  it  for  me  ;  for  though  I  cannot  afford  to  deal  largely  in  so  ex- 
pensive a  commodity  as  books,  I  must  afford  to  purchase  at  least 
the  poetical  works  of  Beattie." 

*  Campbell's  "  Translation  of  the  Four  Gospels." 

t  Hayley's  "  Life  of  Cowper/'  Vol.  III.  p.  247,  , 

3  A 


aro  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CLXX. 


WILLIAM  COWPER,  ESQ.  TO  THE  REV.  JOITN  NEWTON.* 

26th  April,  1784. 

"I  HAVE  been  lately  employed  in  reading  Beattie  and 
Blair's  "  Lectures."  The  latter  I  have  not  yet  finished.  I  find  the 
former  the  most  agreeable  of  the  two ;  indeed  the  most  entertain- 
ing writer  upon  dry  subjects  that  I  ever  met  with.  His  imagina- 
tion is  highly  poetical,  his  language  easy  and  elegant,  and  his  man- 
ner so  familiar,  that  we  seem  to  be  conversing  with  an  old  friend, 
on  terms  of  the  most  social  intercourse,  while  we  read  him.  In 
Blair  we  find  a  scholar,  in  Beattie  both  a  scholar  and  an  amiable 
man ;  indeed  so  amiable,  that  I  have  wished  for  his  acquaintance 
ever  since  I  read  his  book." 


LETTER  CLXXL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MISS  VALENTINE. f 

Edinburgh,  28th  May,  1784r 

'^  MANY  interesting  matters  have  happened  since  I  have 
been  here  ;  and  if  I  had  time,  I  could  write  a  wondrous  long  letter 
of  news.  The  election  of  Scotch  Peers  ;  the  meeting  of  Parlia- 
ment; the  state  of  parties;  the  old  and  the  new  ministry  ;  Pitt  and 
Fox;  the  General  Assembly — all  these  things  are  now  forgotten  ; 

*  Hayley's  "  Life  of  Cowper,"  Vol.  III.  p.  253. 

f  Miss  Margaret  Valentine,  clatighter  of  Mr  John  V.alentine  in  Mon- 
trose, by  Jean  Beattie,  sister  of  Dr  Beattie,  and  now  tlie  wife  of  Mr  Pro- 
fessoi*  Glennie  ;\  to  whose  affectionate  care,  durirg  several  years,  wliile  she 
had  the  superintendence  of  his  family,  Dr  Beattie  was  so  highly  indebted, 
and  wliich  he  so  gratefully  rejnenibeiedin  liis  will. 

t  P.  23. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  371 

and  nothing  here  is  spoken  or  thought  of  but  Mrs  Siddons.  I  have 
seen  this  wonderful  person,  not  only  on  the  stage,  but  in  private 
company ;  for  I  passed  two  days  with  her  aX  the  Earl  of  Buchan's. 
Her  powers  in  tragedy  are  beyond  comparison  great.  I  thought 
my  old  friend  Garrick  fell  little  or  nothing  short  of  theatrical  per- 
fection ;  and  I  have  seen  him  in  his  prime,  and  in  his  highest 
characters :  but  Garrick  never  affected  me  half  so  much  as  Mrs 
Siddons  has  done.  Indeed  the  heart  that  she  cannot  subdue  must 
be  made  of  other  materials  than  flesh  and  blood.  In  the  "  Caledo- 
nian Mercury"  you  will  see,  from  time  to  time,  some  critical  ob- 
servations on  her  action,  which  are  very  well  written.  The  enco- 
miums are  bigh  j  but  I  assure  you  they  are  not  above  her  merk. 
James  too  has  seen  her,  and  is  transported.  He  never  till  now,  he 
says,  knew  what  acting  was.  It  was  very  difficult  to  procure 
places ;  but  by  the  kind  attentions  of  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon,  and 
Lord  and  Lady  Buchan,  I  was  nobly  accommodated,  .and  in  the 
very  best  seats  in  the  house.  In  private  company,  Mrs  Siddons  is 
a  modest,  unassuming,  sensible  woman  ;  of  the  gentlest  and  most 
elegant  manners.  Her  moral  character  is  not  only  unjblemished, 
but  exemplary.  She  is  above  the  middle  size,  and  I  suppose  about 
thirty-four  years  of  age.  Her  countenance  is  the  most  interesting 
that  can  be  ;  and,  excepting  the  D.utchess  of  Gordon,  the  most 
beautiful  I  have  ever  seen.  Her  eyes  and  eye-brows  are  of  the 
deepest  black.  She  loves  music,  and  is  fond  of  the  Scotch  tunes ; 
many  of  which  I  played  to  her  on  the  violoncello.  One  of  them 
("  She  rose,  and  let  me  in,"  which  you  know  is  a  favourite  of  mine,) 
made  the  tears  start  from  her  eyes.  "  Go  on,"  said  she  to  me, 
"  and  you  will  soon  have  your  revenge  ;"  meaning  that  I  would 
draw  as  many  tears  from  her  as  she  had  drawn  from  me.  She 
sung  "  Queen  Mary's  Complaint"  to  admiration ;  and  I  had  the 
honour  to  accompany  her  on  the  bass." 


S72  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CLXXIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


London,  1st  Jul)',  1784. 

"  OUR  friend  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  is  in  perfect  health  and 
spirits.  I  dined  with  him  the  day  after  I  came  to  town,  and  on 
Sunday  last,  when  General  Paoli,  Dr  Johnson,  Mr  Boswell,  and 
several  others  were  there.  Sir  Joshua's  picture  of  Mrs  Siddons  is 
one  of  the  greatest  efforts  of  the  pencil.  He  agrees  with  me,  that 
she  resembles  Garrick  in  her  countenance.  Old  Mr  Sheridan,  Avho 
piques  himself  not  a  little  on  having  been  instrumental  in  bringing 
forward  that  incomparable  actress,  assured  me  the  other  day,  that 
in  every  comic  character,  from  Lady  Townly  to  Nell  the  cobler's 
wife,  she  is  as  great  and  as  original  as  in  tragedy.  I  asked  Tom 
Davies,  (the  author  of  "Garrick's  Life,")  whether  he  could  account 
for  Garrick's  neglect,  or  rather  discouragement,  of  her.  He  im- 
puted it  to  jealousy.  How  is  it  possible,  said  I,  that  Garrick  could 
be  jealous  of  a  woman  ?  "  He  would  have  been  jealous  of  a  child," 
answered  he,  "  if  that  child  had  been  a  favourite  of  the  public  :  to 
"  my  certain  knowledge  he  would."  Johnson  has  got  the  better  of 
his  late  illness  ;  but  has  the  look  of  decline.  Wine,  I  think,  would 
do  him  good,  but  he  cannot  be  prevailed  on  to  drink  it.  He  has, 
however,  a  voracious  appetite  for  food.  I  verily  believe,  that  on 
Sunday  last  he  ate  as  much  at  dinner,  as  I  have  done  in  all  for  these 
ten  days  past.  I  sat  an  hour  with  Johnson  the  other  day,  and  he 
spoke  of  you  with  great  kindness  ;*  and  sympathized  with  my  situ- 
ation, in  a  manner  that  did  honour  to  his  feelings." 


*  Dr  Johnson's  acquaintance  and  mine  first  began  when  he  came  to  Edin- 
burgh in  tiie  year  1773,  on  his  tour  to  the  Hebrides.  As  he  lived  in  the  house 
of  my  friend,  Mr  Boswell,  with  whom  I  was  extremely  intimate,  I  was  very 
much  with  Dr  Johnson  at  that  time ;  and  ever  after,  when  I  had  occasion  to 
go  to  London,  I  uniformly  experienced  from  him  the  utmost  kindness  and  at- 
tention.    Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Mr  Langton,  Mr  Boswell,  Dr  Beattie,  being 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIIv.  S75 


LETTER  CLXXIIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Hunton,  neai-  Maidstone,  Kent,  14th  July,  1784. 

"  I  AM  now,  my  dear  sir,  arrived  at  a  place,  where  external 
nature  wears  a  face  of  the  most  profound  tranquillity;  and  sit  down 
to  thank  you  for  your  two  last  letters,  which  came  to  hand  the  day 
before  I  left  the  town.  It  is  so  far  forttmate,  that  Mrs  B.'s  removal 
to  Musselburgh  was  attended  with  so  little  inconvenience.  My 
confidence  in  your  friendship  and  g-oodness  entirely  satisfies  me, 
that  you  will  soon  put  matters  on  a  right  footing.  I  lament,  indeed, 
that  your  attention  to  me  and  mine  should  give  you  so  much 
trouble  ;  but  the  consciousness  of  doing  good  to  the  unfortunate 
and  forlorn  will  in  part  reward  you  ;  and  no  mind  ever  possessed 
that  consciousness  in  a  more  exquisite  degree  than  yours  has  reason 
to  do. 

"  The  hot  weather  made  London  so  disagreeable,  that  I  was 
obliged  to  leave  it  before  I  had  seen  all  my  friends  :  I  must  make 
a  longer  stay  when  I  return  thither.  I  wish  I  had  time  and  capacity 
to  give  you  a  description  of  this  parsonage.  It  is  delightfully  situ- 
ated about  half-way  down  a  hill  fronting  the  south,  about  a  mile 
from  Coxheath.  My  windows  command  a  prospect,  extending 
southward  about  twelve  miles,  and  from  east  to  west  not  less,  I  sup- 
pose, than  forty.  In  this  whole  space  I  do  not  see  a  single  speck 
of  ground  that  is  not  in  the  highest  degree  cultivated  ;  for  Coxheath 
is  not  in  sight.  The  lawns  in  the  neighbourhood,  the  hop-grounds, 
the  rich  verdure  of  the  trees,  and  their  endless  variety,  form  a  sceneiy 
so  picturesque  and  so  luxuriant,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  fancy  any  thing 
finer.  Add  to  this  the  cottages,  churches,  and  villages,  rising  here 
and  there  among  the  trees,  and  scattered  over  the  whole  country  ; 

our  common  friends,  formed  a  sort  of  bond  of  union  between  Dr  Johnson  and 
me  ;  to  which  circumstance  I  attributed  much  of  the  notice  with  whicii  he 
honoured  me.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  here  how  highly  I  respected 
the  talents  and  the  virtues  of  that  ti-uly  emintnt  and  good  man. 


374  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

clumps  of  oaks,  and  other  lofty  trees,  disposed  in  ten  thousand  dif- 
ferent forms,  and  some  of  thtm  visible  in  the  horizon  at  the  distance 
of  more  than  ten  miles  ;  and  you  will  have  some  idea  of  the  beauty 
of  Hunton.  The  only  thing  wanting  is  the  murmur  of  running 
water;  but  we  have  some  ponds  and  clear  pools  that  glitter  through 
the  trees,  and  have  a  very  pleasing  eifect.  With  abundance  of  shade, 
we  have  no  damp  nor  fenny  ground  :  and  though  the  country  looks 
at  a  distance  like  one  continued  grove,  the  trees  do  not  press  upon 
us  ;  indeed  I  do  not  at  present  see  one  that  I  could  wish  removed. 
There  is  no  road  within  sight,  the  hedges  that  overhang  the  high- 
ways being  very  high  ;  so  that  we  see  neither  travellers  nor  carri- 
ages, and  indeed  hardly  any  thing  in  motion  ;  which  conveys  such 
an  idea  of  peace  and  quiet,  as  I  think  I  never  was  conscious  of  be- 
fore ;  and  forms  a  most  striking  contrast  with  the  endless  noise  and 
restless  multitudes  of  Piccadilly. 

"  But  what  pleases  me  most  at  Hunton  is  not  now  in  view  ;  for 
my  friend,  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  is  gone  out  a  riding.  You  are 
no  sti'anger  to  the  character  of  this  amiable  man.  Mrs  Porteus  is 
not  less  amiable.  Their  house  is  the  mansion  of  peace,  piety,  and 
cheerfulness.  The  Bishop  has  improved  his  parsonage  and  the 
grounds  about  it  as  much  as  they  can  be  improved,  and  made  it  one 
of  the  pleasantest  spots  in  England.  The  whole  is  bounded  by  a 
winding  gravel  walk,  about  half-a-mile  in  circumference.  Close  by, 
lives  a  most  agreeable  lady,  with  whom  we  all  breakfasted  to^ay. 
She  is  the  widow  of  Sir  Roger  Twisden  ;  and,  though  not  more 
than  five-and-twenty,  lives  in  this  elegant  retirement,  and  employs 
herself  chiefly  in  the  education  of  her  daughter,  a  fine  child  of  four 
years  of  age,  who  is  mistress  of  her  catechism,  and  reads  wonder- 
fully well.  I  expect  soon  to  see  our  friend  Mr  Langton,  as  the 
Bishop  proposes  to  send  him  an  invitation,  Rochester  being  only 
ten  miles  off".     Tunbridge-wells  is  fifteen  miles  the  other  way." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIj:.  373 


LETTER  CLXXIV. 


»R  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Hunton,  near  Maidstone,  Kent,  Slst  July,  178i. 

"  YOUR  last  letter  having  given  me  the  fullest  assurance, 
that  the  unfortunate  object  of  our  attention  is  now  in  circumstances 
as  comfortable  as  her  condition  will  admit  of,  I  have  been  endea- 
vouring to  relieve  my  mind,  for  a  time  at  least,  from  that  load  of 
anxiety  which  has  so  long  oppressed  it ;  and  I  already  feel  the 
happy  consequences  of  this  endeavour.  My  health  is  greatly  im- 
proved ;  and,  if  this  rheumatism  would  let  me  alone,  I  might 
almost  say  that  I  am  quite  well.  Certain  it  is,  that  I  have  not  been 
so  well  any  time  these  four  years.  The  tranquillity  and  beauty,  the 
peace  and  the  plenty,  of  this  charming  country,  are  a  continual  feast 
to  my  imagination  ;  and  I  must  be  insensible,  indeed,  if  the  kind- 
ness, the  cheerfulness,  the  piety,  and  the  instructive  conversation, 
of  my  excellent  friend  the  Bishop  of  Chester  and  his  amiable  lady, 
did  not  powerfully  operate  in  soothing  my  mind,  and  improving  my 
heart.  Those  people  of  fashion  in  the  neighbourhood,  who  visit  the 
Bishop,  and  are  visited  by  him,  are  a  small  but  select  society,  and 
eminently  distinguished  for  their  piety,  politeness,  literature,  and 
hospitality.  Among  them  I  have  found  some  old  friends  whom  I 
formerly  knew  in  London,  and  have  acquired  some  new  ones,  on 
whom  I  set  a  very  high  value.  Mr  Langton  and  Lady  Rothes  have 
jUSt  left  us,  after  a  visit  of  two  days.  You  will  readily  imagine  with 
what  regret  we  parted  with  them.  Our  friend  Langton  is  continu- 
ally improving  in  virtue,  learnirg,  and  every  other  thing  that  is 
good.  1  always  adinired  and  loved  him ;  but  now  I  love  and  admire 
him  more  than  ever.  We  had  much  conversation  about  you.*  I 
have  given  the  Bishop  a  full  account  of  my  family  transactiions, 
particularly  for  the  last  twelvemonth.  He  highly  approves  of  every 
thing  that  has  been  done  ;  bestows  great  commendations  on  my 

•  See  p.  339. 


376  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

conduct ;  and  has  given  me  such  advices  as  one  would  expect  from 
his  good  sense  and  knowledge  of  the  world.  I  have  not  yet  fixed 
a  day  for  my  departure  from  this  paradise  ;  but  I  fear  it  must  be 
in  the  course  of  next  week.  My  friends  urge  me  to  prolong  my 
stay,  and  I  am  much  disposed  to  do  so  ;  but  I  must  now  remember, 
that  the  year  begins  to  decline,  and  I  have  several  other  visits  to 
make,  and  things  to  do,  before  I  leave  England.  Meanwhile  I  shall, 
from  time  to  time,  let  you  know  where  I  am,  and  what  1  am  doing. 
Any  letter  you  may  favour  me  with,  you  Avill  be  pleased  to  put 
under  the  Bishop  of  Chester's  cover. 

"  If  I  could  give  you  an  adequate  idea  of  the  way  in  which  we 
pass  our  time  at  Hunton,  I  am  sure  you  would  be  pleased  with  it. 
This  is  a  rainy  day,  and  I  have  nothing  else  to  do  at  present :  why, 
then,  should  I  not  make  the  trial? 

"  Our  hour  of  breakfast  is  ten.  Immediately  before  it,  the 
Bishop  calls  his  family  together,  prays  with  them,  and  gives  them 
his  blessing  :  the  same  thing  is  constantly  done  after  supper,  when 
we  part  for  the  night.  In  the  intervals  of  breakfast,  and  in  the 
evening,  when  there  is  no  company,  his  Lordship  sometimes 
reads  to  us  in  some  entertaining  book.  After  breakfast  we  separate, 
and  amuse  ourselves,  as  we  think  proper,  till  four,  the  hour  of 
dinner.  At  six,  when  the  weather  is  fair,  we  either  walk,  or  make 
a  visit  to  some  of  the  clergy  or  gentry  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
return  about  eight.  We  then  have  music,  in  which  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  that  I  am  almost  the  only  performer.  I  have  got  a  violoncello, 
and  play  Scotch  tunes,  and  perform  Handel's,  Jackson's,  and  other 
songs,  as  well  as  I  can  ;  and  my  audience  is  very  willing  to  be 
pleased.  The  Bishop  and  Mrs  Porteus  are  both  fond  of  music. 
These  musical  parties  are  often  honoured  with  the  company  of  the 
accomplished  and  amiable  Lady  Twisden,  of  whom  I  gave  you  some 
account  in  my  last.  Observe,  that  there  are  in  this  part  of  Kent 
no  fewer  than  three  ladies  of  that  name  :  but  the  one  I  speak  of  is, 
Lady  Twisden  of  Jennings,  in  the  parish  of  Hunton  ;  who,  in  the 
course  of  one  year,  was  a  maid,  a  wife,  a  widow,  and  a  mother  ; 
whose  husband.  Sir  Roger,  died  about  five  years  ago;  and  who, 
though  possessed  of  beauty  and  a  large  fortune,  and  not  more  than 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  has  ever  since  lived  in  this  retirement, 
employing  ^herself  partly  in  study,  but  chiefly  in  acts  of  piety  and 
beneficence,  and  in  the  education  of  her  little  daughter,  who  is  in- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  57f 

deed  a  very  fine  child.  I  have  just  now  before  me  Miss  Hannah 
More's  "  Sacred  Dramas,"  which  I  borrowed  from  Lady  Twisden, 
and  in  which  I  observe  that  she  has  marked  her  favourite  passages 
with  a  nicety  of  selection,  that  does  great  honour  to  her  heart,  as 
well  as  to  her  judgment.  By  the  bye.  Miss  More*  is  an  author  of 
very  considerable  merit.  My  curiosity  to  see  her  works  was  ex- 
cited by  Johnson,  who  told  me,  with  great  solemnity,  that  she  was 
"  the  most  powerful  versificatrix"  in   the   English  language. 

"  So  much  for  our  week-days.  On  Sundays  at  eleven,  we  re- 
pair to  church.  It  is  a  small  but  neat  building,  with  a  pretty  good 
ring  of  six  bells.  The  congregation  are  a  stout,  well  featured  set  of 
people,  clean  and  neat  in  their  dress,  and  most  exemplary  in  the 
decorum  with  which  they  perform  the  several  parts  of  public  wor- 
ship. As  we  walk  up  the  area  to  the  Bishop's  pew,  they  all  make 
on  each  side  a  profound  obeisance  ;  and  the  same  as  we  return. 
The  prayers  are  very  well  read  by  Mr  Hill  the  curate,  and  the 
Bishop  preaches.  I  need  not  tell  you  now,  because  I  think  I  told 
you  before,  that  Bishop  Porteus  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  best  preacher, 
in  respect  both  of  composition  and  the  delivery,  I  have  ever  heard. 
In  this  capacity  indeed  he  is  universally  admired,  and  many  of  the 
gentry  come  to  hear  him  from  the  neighbouring  parishes.  After 
evening  service,  during  the  summer  months,  his  Lordship  gene- 
rally delivers  from  his  pew  a  catechetical  lecture,  addressed  to  the 
children,  who  for  this  purpose  are  drawn  up  in  a  line  before  him 

*  In  a  former  part  of  these  Memoirs,!  some  mention  is  made  of  the  works 
of  this  amiable  and  excellent  moralist,  who  still  lives  to  instruct  the  world  by 
her  writings.  It  is  a  circumstance  hig-hly  redounding- to  her  praise,  and  well 
worthy  of  being  recorded,  that  besides  those  admirable  publications,  calcu- 
lated for  the  meridian  of  the  upper  circles  of  life,  she  thought  it  no  degrada- 
tion of  her  talents  to  employ  her  pen  in  the  service  of  the  lower  classes  of  the 
people  ;  and  at  a  period  when  the  press  in  Britain  was  teeming  with  the  most 
infamous  productions,  purposely  calculated  to  diffuse  the  principles  of  infide- 
lity and  sedition,  sheempIo3'ed  herselfin  composing  short  and  familiar  tracts, 
in  the  form  of  Tales,  Dialogues,  Ballads,  suited  to  the  capacities  of  the  lower 
orders  of  society,  and  designed  as  an  antidote  to  the  poisonous  tendency  of 
the  others.  Those  useful  little  publications  were  printed  in  a  cheap  form,  in 
order  that  they  might  be  the  more  widely  distributed  by  well  disjiosed  per- 
sons ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  were  productive  of  the  happiest  eflcct.  Mrs 
Hannah  More's  latest  publication  is  entitled,  "  Hints  towards  forming  the 
"  Character  of  a  young  Princess." 

t  See  p.  145. 
3  B 


378  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

along  the  area  of  the  church.  In  these  lectures  he  explains  to  thera, 
in  the  simplest  and  clearest  manner,  yet  with  his  usual  elegance, 
the  fundamental  and  essential  principles  of  religion  and  morality  ; 
and  concludes  with  an  address  to  the  more  advanced  in  years. 
This  institution  of  the  Bishop's  I  greatly  admire.  When  children 
see  themselves  so  much  attended  to,  and  so  much  pains  taken  in 
instructing  them,  they  cannot  fail  to  look  upon  religion  as  a  matter 
of  importance  ;  and,  if  they  do  so,  it  is  not  possible  for  them,  con- 
sidering the  advantages  they  enjoy,  to  be  ignorant  of  it.  The 
catechetical  examinations  in  the  church  of  Scotland,  such  of  them 
at  least  as  I  have  seen,  are  extremely  ill  calculated  for  doing  good ; 
being  encumbered  with  metaphysical  distinctions,  and  expressed  in 
a  technical  language,  which  to  children  are  utterly  unintelligible, 
and  but  little  understood  even  by  the  most  sagacious  of  the  common 
people.  The  Bishop  told  me,  that  he  chose  to  deliver  this  lecture 
from  his  pew,  and  without  putting  on  lawn  sleeves,  that  it  might 
make  the  stronger  impression  upon  the  children  ;  having  observ- 
ed, he  said,  that  what  is  delivered  from  the  pulpit,  and  ^yith  the 
usual  formalities,  is  too  apt  to  be  considered,  both  by  the  young  and 
the  old,  as  a  thing  of  course.  On  Sunday  evening,  he  sometimes 
reads  to  his  servants  a  brief  and  plain  abstract  of  the  Scripture 
history,  somewhat  similar  to  that  which  was  lately  published  by 
Mrs  Trimmer,  and  formerly  by  Lady  Newhaven. 

"  In  no  other  district  of  Great  Britain,  that  I  have  seen,  is  there 
so  little  the  appearance  of  poverty,  and  such  indications  of  compe- 
tence and  satisfaction  in  the  countenance  and  dress  of  the  common 
people,  as  in  this  part  of  Kent.  In  this  parish  there  is  only  one  ale- 
house, the  profits  whereof  are  inconsiderable.  The  people  are 
fond  of  cricket-matches,  at  which  there  is  a  great  concourse  of  men, 
Women,  and  children,  with  good  store  of  ale  and  beer,  cakes,  gin- 
ger-bread, See.  One  of  these  was  solemnized  a  few  nights  ago  in 
a  field  adjacent  to  the  parish-church.  It  broke  up  about  sunset, 
with  much  merriment,  but  without  drunkenness  or  riot.  The  con- 
test was  between  the  men  of  Hunton  and  the  men  of  Pcckham  ; 
and  the  latter  were  victorious." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  379 


LETTER  CLXXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Hunton,  near  Maidstone,  Kent,  6lh  August,  1784. 

"  YOUR  i-emarks  on  Mrs  B's  condition  are  equally  striking 
and  just ;  she  is  certainly  not  unhappy.  And  your  observation, 
"  that  the  days  of  human  life,  that  are  passed  without  sorrow  and 
"  without  sin,  are  neither  to  be  lamented  when  passing,  nor  regretted 
"  when  passed,"  has  suggested  to  me  several  comfortable  reflections. 
I  should  indeed  be  equally  insensible  both  to  moral  and  intellectual 
excellence,  and  to  the  picturesque  beauties  of  nature,  if  the  charm- 
ing scenes,  and  the  delightful  society,  in  which  I  have  passed  these 
three  weeks,  had  not  soothed  my  mind  into  a  sweet  forgetfulness 
of  care,  and  encouraged  me  to  hope,  that  I  am  not  in  so  forlorn 
a  condition  as  I  lately  imagined.* 

"  The  very  countenance  and  behaviour  of  the  common  people 
of  this  district  have  had  their  effect  in  composing  my  mind 
and  raising  my  spirits.  I  left  the  country,  which  is  at  all  times 
barren  and  dreary,  and  which,  when  I  left  it,  had  not  got  the  better 
of  a  two  years  scarcity,  I  had  almost  said,  famine.  The  peace  and 
the  plenty  of  this  region  form  the  most  striking  contrast  imagina- 
ble. Here  the  people  are  stout,  and  hearty,  and  active  ;  their  ap- 
parel is  neat  and.decent;  and  their  honest  countenances  are  strongly 
expressive  of  content  and  competence.  When  Virgil  says  of  his 
happy  husbandmen,  that  they  suffer  no  pain,  either  frpm  pitying  the 
poor,  or  from  envying  the  rich,  I  am  now  satisfied,  that  he  had  no 
idea  of  either  blaming  or  praisiijg  their  Stoical  apathy ;  his  mean- 
ing certainly  was,  that  the  rich  cannot  be  envied  where  all  have 
enough,  and  that  the  poor  cannot  be  pitied  where  poverty  is  un- 
known." 

"  This  alludes  to  some  family-distresses,  to  which  he  had  bcgn  subjected. 


380  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE, 


LETTER   CLXXVI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS,  BISHOP  OF  CHESTER. 

Sandleford,  near  Newbury,  Berks,  18th  August,  1784. 

"  IT  is  but  a  week  since  I  exchanged  the  paradise  of  Hun- 
ton  for  the  purgatory  of  London  ;  and  it  seems  almost  a  year  :  so 
much,  during  that  short  period,  have  I  suffered  from  heat,  and 
bustle,  and  bad  air,  and  (what  is  worst  of  all)  from  sorrow  of  heart 
at  parting  with  the  best  of  friends.  The  month  which  I  passed  at 
Hunton  was  the  happiest  of  my  life ;  and  I  dare  not  flatter  myself 
with  the  hope  of  such  another.  But  I  shall,  as  long  as  I  live,  derive 
satisfaction  from  recalling  the  persons,  the  conversations,  and  the 
scenery  of  it ;  which  now  occupy  so  large  a  space  (if  I  may  so  ex- 
press myself)  in  my  imagination,  that  there  is  hardly  room  for  the 
intrusion  of  any  other  idea. 

"  On  Saturday  and  Sunday  I  was  so  overpowered  by  the  in- 
tolerable heat  of  the  town,  that  on  Monday  I  was  glad  to  make  my 
escape  a  second  time  into  the  country.  I  passed  the  night  at 
Reading,  and  yesterday  at  three  o'clock  arrived  here  ;  where  I 
found  Mrs  Montagu  and  her  nephew  in  perfect  health,  and  very 
anxious  in  their  inquiries  after  the  health  of  Mrs  Porteus  and  your 
Lordship.  I  had  not  been  here  five  minutes,  Avhen  the  wind  on  a 
sudden  shifted,  with  a  violent  squall,  to  the  north-east,  and  the 
weather  in  an  instant  changed  from  very  hot  to  very  cold,  as  it  still 
continues  to  be. 

"  This  place  is  much  improved  since  I  saw  it  last.  A  great 
deal  of  brick-building  and  garden-wall  is  cleared  away,  and  the 
lawn  is  opening  very  fast  on  every  side.  A  little  rivulet,  that  used 
to  wander,  unheard  and  unseen,  through  a  venerable  grove  of  oaks, 
is  now  collected  into  two  large  and  beautiful  pieces  of  water,  round 
which  the  walks  and  ground  are  laid  out  to  very  great  advantage 
indeed.  The  situation  is  on  an  eminence,  with  a  gentle  slope  of  a 
quarter-of-a-mile  towards  the  south  ;  and  from  every  part  of  the 
lawn  there  is  a  Beautiful  prospect,  first  of  a  romantic  village  called 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  381 

Newtown,  and  beyond  that,  of  the  Hampshire  hills,  some  of  which 
are  tufted  with  wood,  and  others  bare,  and  green,  and  smooth,  to 
the  top. 

"  At  the  distance  of  about  thirty  yards  from  the  house  of  Sandle- 
ford,  stood  formerly  an  old  chapel  (for  the  place  was  once  a  priory), 
which  for  a  century  past  or  more  had  been  neglected,  or  used  as 
a  place  for  lumbei\  This,  Mrs  Montagu  has  transformed  into  a 
very  magnificent  room,  and  joined  to  the  main  body  of  the  house 
by  a  colonnade  ;  which,  expanding  in  the  middle,  and  rising  to  the 
height  of  thirty  feet  at  least,  forms  a  noble  drawing-room  of  an 
elliptical  shape.  When  the  doors  of  these  rooms  are  thrown  open, 
the  walk,  from  end  to  end,  is  upwards  of  an  hundred  feet,  and  the 
heighth  and  breadth  proportionable.  The  dining-room  terminates 
in  a  very  large  window  in  the  Gothic  style,  I'eaching  from  tlie  floor 
almost  to  the  roof,  and  looking  into  a  grove  of  tall  oaks,  which, 
with  a  happy  and  very  peculiar  effect,  retire  from  the  eye  in  four 
rows,  and  give  to  this  spacious  apartment  the  appearance  of  a  vast 
arbour.  From  this  account,  if  I  have  done  any  justice  to  my  idea, 
you  will  conclude,  and  justly  too,  that  there  is  some  little  resem- 
blance between  this  room  and  the  new  room  at  Hunton." 


LETTER  CLXXVIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Edinburgh,  18th  September,  1784. 

"  I  CANNOT  express  my  regret  at  being  obliged  to  leave 
so  soon  the  charming  society  at  Sandleford  ;  a  society,  in  which  I 
had  so  many  opportunities  of  improving  both  my  understanding 
and  my  heart ;  and  in  which  I  must  have  been  callous  indeed,  if  I 
had  not  been  every  moment  conscious  of  the  most  delightful  emo- 
tions that  admiration  and  gratitude  can  inspire.  I  beg  to  be  re- 
membered, in  the  most  affectionate  terms,  to  your  amiable  and  ac- 
complished nephew,  whom  I  found  to  be  just  what  I  wished,  and 
what  I  expected.  He  is  as  good  as  I  wish  him  to  be,  and  1  hope 
he  will  always  be  as  happy. 


382  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  My  jonrney  was  very  pleasant.  The  weather  was  uncom- 
monly fine ;  and  the  gay  harvest-scenes,  that  every  where  sur- 
rounded me,  conveyed  such  ideas  of  vivacity  and  gladness,  as  could 
not  fail  to  have  the  happiest  effects  on  my  health  and  spirits  :  and  I 
was  surprisingly  recovered  before  I  got  to  Temple-Newsam,*  in 
Yorkshire,  where  I  passed  ten  days  very  agreeably.  I  then  resumed 
my  journey,  and  arrived  here  the  day  before  yesterday.  Most  of  my 
friends  being  gone  to  the  country,  I  can  have  no  temptation  to  re- 
m.ain  long  in  Edinburgh,  and  am  just  on  the  eve  of  my  departure 
for  Aberdeen  and  Peterhead  ;  from  which  last  place  I  shall  have 
the  honour  to  write  to  you,  as  soon  as  I  have  had  a  conversation 
with  Mrs  Arbuthnot.  I  am  impatient  to  see  her,  and  to  "  make  the 
widow's  heart  sing  for  joy,"  in  the  contemplation  of  your  goodness." 


In  order  the  better  to  understand  the  following  anecdote,  which 
does  equal  credit  to  Dr  Beattie  and  to  Mrs  Montagu,  it  is  proper  to 
mention  that  the  worthy  woman,  to  whom  Mrs  Montagu  thus  ex- 
tended her  beneficence,  was  a  Mrs  Arbuthnot,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Anne  Hepburn,  daughter  of  the  Reverend  Mr  Alexander 
Hepburn,  a  minister  of  the  episcopal  church  of  Scotland,  who  had 
been  domestic  chaplain  in  the  family  of  the  Earl  Marischal  of  Scot- 
land, and  preceptor  to  his  sons,  the  late  Earl  Marischal  and  Gene- 
ral Keith.  She  inherited  from  nature  no  inconsiderable  portion  of 
genius,  and  had  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  a  literary  education.  Her 
reading,  however,  had  unfortunately  taken  a  turn  very  unusual 
with  the  female  sex  ;  and  she  had  imbibed  a  partiality  for  the 
sceptical  philosophy ;  but  of  which  she  became  completely  cured, 
by  the  subsequent  perusal  of  books  of  a  better  tendency,  particu- 
larly Butler's  "  Analogy  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,"  Avhich 
she  justly  considered  as  a  woi'k  of  pre-eminent  merit,  and  which 
continued  to  be  her  favourite  study,  next  to  the  Sci'iptures,  to  her 
dying  hour. 

She  was  married  in  the  year  1737,  Avhen  twenty-eight,  to  Cap- 
lain  Andrew  Arbuthnot;  a  name  of  which  there  were  at  that  time 
several  families  in  Peterhead,  of  the  same  kindred,  distinguished  for 

*  The  seat  of  Lady  Viscountess  Irvine. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  583 

their  great  integrity  and  simplicity  of  manners.  The  celebrated  Dr 
Arbuthnot  was  a  branch  of  the  family.  Her  husband  was  master 
of  a  vessel  that  traded  from  Peterhead  to  America  ;  and,  during 
one  of  his  voyages,  died  of  a  fever  at  Charlestown,  in  South  Caro- 
lina, in  the  year  1740.  To  add  to  this  calamity,  while  the  mate, 
who  brought  home  the  vessel  to  Peterhead,  had  come  on  shore, 
to  communicate  to  her  the  melancholy  tidings  of  her  husband's 
death,  by  some  accident  the  vessel  was  wrecked  in  the  bay,  and  in 
her  the  whole  of  the  captain's  property  was  lost.  Thus,  in  one 
hour,  she  found  herself  deprived  of  an  afiectionate  husband,  and 
left  totally  destitute,  with  the  charge  of  a  boy,  a  child  of  a  year  old. 

After  this  dire  calamity,  Mrs  Arbuthnot  struggled  hard  to 
maintain  herself  and  her  son  by  her  labour,  and  the  kindness  of  her 
friends,  who  contrived  to  assist  her  in  a  concealed  manner,  so  as 
not  to  hurt  the  delicacy  of  her  feelings ;  and  she  has  frequently 
been  heard  to  say,  she  sometimes  received  aid  as  if  it  had  dropt 
from  heaven,  without  her  knowing  from  what  hand  it  came. 

To  fill  up  the  measure  of  her  misfortune,  her  only  son,  whom 
she  had  used  every  effort  to  educate,  by  means  of  a  small  bursary 
at  the  university  of  Aberdeen,*  and  who,  by  the  interest  of  some  of 
his  father's  relations,  had  obtained  a  commission  in  the  army,  in 
which  he  served  with  reputation,  died  at  an  early  age  in  the  West 
Indies,  at  a  period  when  he  had  the  prospect  of  future  promotion, 
by  which  he  might  have  been  enabled  to  contribute  to  his  mother's 
niore  comfortable  subsistence.  Thus  bereft  of  every  consolation, 
except  what  she  derived  from  religion,  and  the  soothing  ten- 
derness of  her  friends,  she  continued  contentedly  to  strive  with 
virtuous  poverty  during  the  whole  course  of  her  long  widowhood. 

While  Mrs  Arbuthnot  had  resided  for  a  short  time  at  Aber- 
deen, during  the  period  of  her  son's  education,  she  had  become 
known  to  the  late  Dr  John  Gregory,  to  Dr  Beattie,  and  several  of 
the  eminent  literary  characters  of  that  time,  who  esteemed  her  for 
her  taste  in  books,  and  respected  her  by  reason  of  her  virtues  and 
exemplary  piety.  Dr  Beattie,  in  particular,  contracted  an  intimate 
friendship  with  Mrs  Arbuthnot,  with  whom  he  constantly  lodged 
during  his  annual  visits  to  Peterhead.  In  her  house  he  enjoyed 
tranquillity  and  pcrfijct  freedom  ;  and,  when  he  was  disposed  for 

*  See  p.  i::. 


384  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

conversation,  he  had  always  the  benefit  of  Mrs  Arbuthnot's,  whose 
cultivated  understanding,  and  pious  frame  of  mind,  were  exactly 
suited  to  his  taste.  To  her  opinion  he  generally  submitted  his 
literary  productions  before  their  publication ;  and  he  used  to  say, 
that  he  had  seldom  found  her  mistaken  in  her  judgment  of  their 
merit.  On  representing  her  situation  to  Mrs  Montagu,  that  lady 
was  pleased  to  settle  on  her  an  annuity,  which  raised  this  poor,  but 
grateful  woman  from  her  contented  poverty,  to  a  state  of  compara- 
tive affluence.  Mrs  Avbuthnot  died  19th  May,  1795,  at  the  very 
advanced  age  of  eighty-six. 

LETTER  CLXXVIII. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Peterhead,  11th  October,  1784. 

"  I  ARRIVED  at  Peterhead  the  first  of  October.  I  went  in- 
stantly to  Mrs  Arbuthnot,  whom  I  found  in  tolerable  health,  sitting 
solitary  by  her  little  fire,  and  amusing  herself,  as  usual,  with  a 
book  and  her  work  ;  both  which  she  has  the  art  of  attending  to  at 
the  same  time.  She  was  the  jnoi'e  pleased  to  see  me,  as  my  arrival 
was  unexpected  ;  for  she  had  not  heard  that  I  was  returned  to 
Scotland.  After  she  had  asked  all  the  customary  questions,  I  told 
her,  without  betraying  any  emotion,  or  seeming  to  have  any  thing 
in  view  but  her  amusement,  that  if  she  was  at  leisure,  I  Avould  tell 
her  a  story.  I  accordingly  began  ;  and,  agreeably  to  the  commis- 
sion with  which  you  honoured  me,  made  a  very  long  and  circum- 
stantial story  of  it,  recapitulating,  as  far  as  my  memory  would, 
enable  me,  every  thing  that  passed  in  that  conversation  at  Sandle- 
ford,  of  which  she  and  her  aunt,  Mrs  Cockburn,*  were  the  subject. 
I  saw  she  was  greatly  affected  with  the  idea  of  your  thinking  so 
favourably  of  her  aunt,  and  with  your  condescension  in  inquiring  so 
minutely  into  her  own  story  and  character ;  but  I  did  not  throw  out 
a  single  hint  that  could  lead  her  to  anticipate  what  was  to  follow.  At 

*  A  lady  of  considerable  g'enius  and  learning',  widow  of  tlie  Reverend  Mr 
Cockburn,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  episcopal  chapel  at  Aberdeen,  of  whose 
writings  two  volumes  were  published,  many  years  ago,  now  almost  entirely 
forgotten. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  38.5 

Fast,  when  I  found  that  her  heart  was  thoroughly  warmed,  and  recol- 
lected your  observation,  that  the  human  heart  m  that  state  becomes 
malleable,  I  hastened  to  the  conclusion,  which  I  expressed  in  the 
simplest  and  fewest  words  possible ;  so  that  the  whole  struck  her 
at  one  and  the  same  instant.  She  attempted  an  exclamation,  but 
it  was  inarticulate,  and  almost  resembled  a  scream  ;  the  tears  ran 
down  her  furrowed  cheeks  ;  and  she  could  only  say,  "  O  dear,  I 
"  cannot  speak  one  word  !"  and  seemed  almost  exhausted  with  the 
effort  that  had  produced  that  short  sentence.  I  desired  her  not  to 
attempt  to  speak,  but  to  hear  me  a  little  further  ;  and  then  told  her, 
Madam,  that  such  acts  of  beneficence  were  familiar  things  to  you  ;* 
and  mentioned  some  instances  that  had  come  to  my  knowledge, 
particularly  that  of  Mrs  Williams.  She  held  up  her  eyes  and 
hands,  sometimes  in  silent  adoration  of  Providence,  and  sometimes 
with  the  most  passionate  expressions  of  gratitude  to  her  noble 
benefactress.  In  a  word.  Madam,  she  accepted  your  bounty  in  a 
way  that  did  honour  both  to  her  understanding  and  to  her  feelings  ; 
and  I  left  her  to  compose  herself  by  silent  meditation.  Indeed  I 
made  haste  to  get  away  after  1  had  executed  my  commission  ;  for 
the  scene  was  so  delightfully  affecting,  that  I  could  stand  it  no 
longer. 

"  When  the  news  was  known  next  day  in  the  town,  it  diffused 
a  very  general  joy ;  and  many  an  honest  heart  invoked  the  bless- 
ing of  heaven  upon  your  head :  for  Mrs  Arbuthnot's  character  is 

•  On  this  subject  of  Mrs  Montagu's  charitable  distributions,  it  Were  in- 
justice to  her  to  omit  inserting  the  following  paragraph  of  a  letter  of  her's  to 
Dr  Beattie,  now  lying  before  me.  It  alludes  to  the  person  mentioned  in  a 
letter  of  Dr  Beattie's  to  her,  p.  262. 

"  The  Dutchess-dowager  of  Beaufort  gave  me  a  guinea  for  the  little  man 
*•  with  the  great  soul,  whom  the  vulgar  at  Aberdeen  call  a  dwarf:  be  so  good 
•'  as  to  give  him  a  guinea,  and  charge  it  to  my  account;  and  if  at  any  time  he 
"  is  sick  or  distressed,  remember  that  one,  Vi^ho  is  weary  of  seeing  little  minds 
"  in  great  men,  will  gladly  relieve  one  where  this  unseemly  circumstance  is 
"  nobly  reversed.  Consider  me  always  in  the  best  light  in  which  yon  can  put 
•"  me,  as  the  banker  of  the  distressed ;  and  at  any  time  call  on  me  for  such 
"  objects ;  and,  in  all  senses  of  the  word,  /  luill  honour  your  bill.  Vulgar 
•'  wretchedness  one  relieves,  because  it  is  one's  duty  to  do  so  ;  and  one  has  a 
"  certain  degi-ee  of  pleasure  in  it;  but  to  assist  merit  in  distress  is  an  Epicu- 
"  rean  feast ;  and  indulge  this  luxuiy  of  taste  in  me,  when  any  remarkabha 
"  object  shall  offer  itself  to  your  acquaintance." 

3  c 


386  LIFE  OF  DH  BEATTIE. 

exceedingly  respected  by  all  who  know  her;  and  her  narrow  cir- 
cumstances have  long  been  matter  of  general  regret;  as  the  deli- 
cacy of  her  mind  was  well  known,  which  no  doubt  discouraged 
some  persons  from  making  a  direct  offer  of  their  services,  though 
indirectly,  I  believe,  that  some  little  matters  have  been  done  for  her 
benefit.  Yet,  since  her  husband's  death,  which  happened  four- 
and-forty  years  ago,  I  know  not  whether  she  was  at  any  time  worth 
ten  pounds  a-year.  With  this  small  appointment  she  has  con- 
stantly maintained  the  appearance  of  a  gentlewoman,  and  has  re- 
ceived the  visits  of  the  best  people  in  the  town  and  neighbourhood, 
whom  she  was  always  happy  to  entertain  with  a  dish  of  tea:  and 
among  her  visitors  can  reckon  the  (present)  Dutchess  of  Gordon, 
the  Countess  of  Errol,  Lord  Saltoun's  family.  Sir  William  Forbes, 
and  many  others  of  the  best  fashion.  What  is  yet  more  strange, 
with  this  small  appointment,  she  has  always  found  means  to  be 
charitable  to  the  poor ;  and  when  I  have  seen  her  dealing  out  her 
alms  which  was  commonly  a  handful  of  oatmeal  to  each  person,  I 
know  not  how  often  she  has  put  me  in  mind  of  the  widow  in  the 
Gospel. 

"  There  are  several  persons  of  her  name  in  this  town  ;  and 
therefore  it  may  be  proper  to  inform  you,  that  her  distinguishing 
name  is  Mrs  Andrew  Arbuthnot.  The  name  Arbuthnot  is  fre- 
quent in  the  neighbourhood.  The  great  Dr  John  Arbuthnot,  so 
eminent  for  his  virtue,  his  learning,  and  his  wit,  Avas  the  grandson 
of  a  gentleman-farmer,  who  lived  at  a  place  called  Scots-mill, 
three  miles  from  this  town  ;  and  Dr  Arbuthnot  and  Captain  An- 
drew Arbuthnot  were  second-cousins. 

*'  I  am  afraid  Mrs  Arbuthnot  yyill  not  long  stand  in  need  of 
your  bounty  ;  for  she  is  seventy-six  years  of  age,  and  suffers  much 
from  a  cough  and  asthma.  I  was  introduced  to  her  about  twentj 
years  ago,  by  her  nephew,  Mr  Arbuthnot  of  Edinburgh,  and  have 
since  betn  as  attentive  to  her  as  I  could  ;  of  which  she  is  so  sensi- 
ble ;  that  sometimes,  in  the  extravagance  of  her  gratitude,  she  has 
called  me  /ic)-  good  genius.  She  actually  gave  me  that  appellation 
in  the  first  draught  of  that  letter  v/hich  she  wrote  to  you  about  a 
Week  ago,  and  which  I  hope,  Madam,  you  have  received  j  but  1 
prevailed  with  her  to  change  the  phrase. 

"  Since  I  came  hither  I  have  been  seven  or  eight  times  in  the 
sea  ;  and  I  think  I  am  already  the  better  for  it.     Only  for  three  or 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  387 

four  hours  after  every  plunge  I  am  a  little  disconcerted  by  a  confu- 
sion in  the  head,  and  a  trentior  in  the  hands ;  of  which  I  am  afruid 
you  win  see  too  many  proofs  in  this  letter :  but  that  symptom  will 
probably  disappear,  when  I  am  a  little  more  accustomed  to  salt- 
water. I  shall  remain  here  a  fortnight  longer;  and  then  the  busi- 
ness of  the  college  will  fix  me  in  Aberdeen  for  the  winter. 

"  Permit  me  now.  Madam,  to  thank  you  for  your  most  obliging 
letter  of  the  20th  of  September,  which,  after  wandering  long  from 
place  to  place,  has  overtaken  me  at  last.  The  harvest-scenes, 
which  interest  you  so  much,  were  also  very  interesting  to  me  in 
the  course  of  my  journey  through  England ;  for  the  weather  was 
the  finest  that  could  be,  and  every  scythe  and  sickle,  and  the  wag- 
gons, and  the  gleaners,  were  all  in  motion.  With  peculiar  satis- 
faction I  took  notice  of  that  laudable  English  custom,  of  permitting 
the  poor  and  the  infirm  to  glean  the  fields. 

"  How  shall  I  thank  you.  Madam,  and  my  amiable  friend,  Mr 
Montagu,  for  the  kind  invitation  you  give  my  son  and  me  to  pass 
some  part  of  the  ensuing  spring  at  Sandleford  I  Be  assured,  it  will 
be  a  grievous  disappointment  to  us  both,  if  we  cannot  get  that 
matter  accomplished.  If  my  domestic  affairs  continue  quiet,  as  I 
thank  God  they  are  at  present,  I  hope  we  shall  find  no  difficulty 
in  it." 


LETTER  CLXXIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Peterhead,  l^th  October,  1784. 

"  IT  flatters  me  very  much  to  hear,  that  I  am  just  now  in 
favour  with  Lord  Monboddo ;  for  I  lately  heard  a  very  different  ac- 
count. I  am  likewise  happy  to  understand,  from  his  comparing 
your  Grace  to  Helen  of  Troy,  that  there  is  at  least  one  Modern  to 
whom  he  is  willing  to  do  justice:  for,  in  that  comparison,  he  cer- 
tainly mte7ids  a  very  great  compliment,  though  I  cannot  think  there 
is  a  great  one.  I  hope  he  will  no  longer  insist  on  it,  that  Helen 
was  seven  feet  high ;  and  tliat  he  will  devise  some  expedient,  to 


388  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

vindicate  that  lady's  character  from  the  aspersion  of  having  been 
at  least  fourscore  when  Paris  ran  away  with  her :  a  paradox,  which, 
for  the  honour  of  my  friend  Homer,  I  wish  I  were  able  to  confute  ; 
though  I  cannot  think  of  any  other  way  of  doing  it,  than  by  sup- 
posing, that  there  were  two  fair  ladies  of  that  name,  one  of  whom, 
came  to  Troy,  and  the  other  eloped  with  Theseus  about  sixty  years 
before." 


LETTER  CLXXX. 


PR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  31st  January,  1785, 

"  THE  sea-bath  was  of  considerable  service  to  me  ;  and  as 
this'has  been  the  most  quiet  winter  I  have  passed  these  seven  years, 
I  am  rather  in  better  health  than  usual,  and  have  of  late  been  mak- 
ing some  progress  in  a  little  work,  of  which  you  saw  a  sketch  at 
Sandleford,  and  which  you  did  me  the  honour  to  read  and  approve 
of.  It  was  your  approbation,  and  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Chester 
and  Sir  William  Forbes,  that  determined  me  to  revise,  correct, 
and  enlarge  it,  with  a  view  to  publication.  When  finished,  it  will 
make  two  little  volumes,  of  the  size  of  Mr  Jenyns's  book  on  the 
"  Internal  Evidence  of  Christianity."  My  plan  is  more  compre- 
hensive than  his,  and  takes  in  the  external  evidence  of  miracles 
and  prophecy,  as  well  as  the  internal.  That  you  may  see.  Madam, 
somewhat  more  distinctly  what  I  intend,  I  beg  leave  to  transcribe 
the  following  paragraph  from  my  introduction ; 

"  1  have  met  with  little  practical  treatises,  called.  Ten  minutea 
"  advice — to  those  who  are  about  to  engage  in  such  or  such  an  en- 
"  terprise.  These  performances  may  have  their  use,  though  they 
"  do  not  contain  a  full  detail  of  the  business  alluded  to.  I  mean  to 
"  give  Tivo  hours  advice — to  that  person,  who  may  be  in  danger 
*'  from  the  books,  or  from  the  company  of  infidels,  and  who  is 
"  candid  enough  to  desire  to  be  informed,  in  few  words,  whe- 
"  ther  the  evidence  on  the  other  side  be  so  plausible,  as  to  de- 
-"  serve  the  notice  of  a  rational  mind.    If  I  shall  satisfy  him  that  k 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  389 

«  is,  he  will  naturally  lay  me  aside,  and  have  I'ecourse  for  farther 
^  information,  to  those  great  authors,  who  have  gone  through  the 
"  whole  subject,  and  illustrated  and  proved  many  things,  which 
"  the  narrowness  of  my  plan  permits  me  only  to  affirm^  or  perhaps 
"  only  to  hint  ut.  And  (which  is  far  the  most  important  part  of  the 
"  whole  procedure)  he  will  at  the  same  time  reverently  consult 
"  those  sacred  oracles,  which  contain  the  history  of  divine  revela- 
"  tion ;  and  which  he  will  find  more  frequently,  perhaps,  and  more 
"  fully,  than  he  is  aware  of,  to  carry  their  own  evidence  along  with 
"  them.  And  when  he  has  done  all  this,  in  the  spirit  of  candour, 
*'  with  an  humble  and  docile  mind,  and  with  a  sincere  desire  to 
"  know  the  truth  and  his  duty,  I  may  venture  to  assure  him,  that  he 
"  will  not  regret  the  time  he  has  employed  in  the  study  ;  and  that, 
"  from  the  writings  or  conversation  of  unbelievers,  his  faith  will 
^'  never  be  in  danger  any  more." 

"  Your  sentiments  of  Dr  Arbuthnot  agree  entirely  with  mine. 
He  had,  I  think,  more  wit  and  humour,  and  he  certainly  had  much 
more  virtue  and  learning,  than  either  Pope  or  Swift.  The  elo- 
quence and  ostentation  of  Bolingbroke  could  never  impose  on  Ar- 
buthnot :  he  told  his  son,  (whom  I  once  had  the  honour  to  converse 
with  at  Richmond)  that  he  knew  Bolingbroke  was  an  infidel,  and  a 
worthless  vain  man.  The  Doctor  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman  of 
this  country,  and  was  educated  at  the  Marischal  College.  His 
grandfatlier  lived  at  a  place  called  Scots-mill,  in  a  romantic  situa- 
tion on  the  brink  of  a  river,  about  three  miles  from  Peterhead ; 
a  place  which  I  often  visit  as  classic  ground,  as  being  probably  the 
place  where  the  Doctor,  when  a  school-boy,  might  often  pass  his 
holidays.  I  am  informed,  that  the  late  Doctor  Hunter  bequeathed 
an  oi'iginal  picture  of  Arbuthnot  to  that  university ;  at  which  it 
should  appear  that  he  had  been  educated.  If  this  be  true,  it  is 
the  property  of  the  Marischal  College.  If  I  knew  any  thing  of  Dr 
Hunter's  executors,  I  would  write  to  them  on  the  subject ;  as  the 
picture  has  never  appeared." 


590  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CLXXXI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM    FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  7th  February,  1785. 

"  THE  quiet  which  I  have  enjoyed  this  winter,  especially 
since  I  received  your  letter,  has  not  only  given  me  better  health 
than  usual,  but  has  also  left  my  mind  at  leisure  to  resume  that  little 
work  on  the  "  Evidence  of  Christianity,"  of  which  you  saw  a  sketch 
last  summer.  All  Uie  introduciorv  part  is  now  written,  and  the 
part  you  baw  is  extended  to  double  its  former  size.  One  entire 
section  is  added  on  the  evidence  arising  from  prophecy  ;  and,  in 
evincing  the  usefulness  of  revelation,  I  have  had  occasion  to  make 
some  additional  remarks  on  the  insufficiency  of  the  ancient  philoso- 
phy, and  the  characters  of  the  philosophers.  Whether  t'iis  work  will 
ever  be  of  use  to  others,  I  know  not ;  but  this  I  know,  that  it  has 
been  of  considerable  benefit  to  myself.  For  though,  when  I  enter- 
ed upon  it,  I  understood  my  subject  well  enough  to  entertain  no 
doubt  of  the  goodness  of  my  cause,  yet  I  find,  as  I  advance,  new 
light  continually  breaking  in  upon  me, 

"  My  list  of  Scotticisms  is  also  very  much  enlarged.  I  believe 
I  shall  print  it  here  for  the  convenience  of  correcting  the  press, 
which,  in  the  present  state  of  the  post-office,  cannot  be  done  by  a 
person  at  a  distance.  If  you  see  Mr  Creech,  please  to  ask  what 
number  of  copies  I  shall  send  to  him.  It  will  be  a  pretty  large 
pamphlet,  and  the  price  shall  not  exceed  a  shilling. 

"  Dr  Campbell's  preliminary  dissertations  are  uU  finished :  they 
alone  will  make  a  large  quarto.  1  have  read  them  all  with  great 
pleasure.  They  are  a  treasure  of  theological  learning ;  and  writ- 
ten with  a  degree  of  candour,  as  well  as  precision,  of  which  in 
matters  of  this  kind,  the  world  has  seen  very  few  examples." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIli:.  391 


LETTER  CLXXXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Aberdeen,  13th  February,  1785. 

"  YOU  may  believe  that  your  accounts  of  Mrs  Arbuthnot's 
recovery,  so  far  exceeding  what  I  expected,  gave  me  the  greatest 
pleasure.  I  see  now,  she  will  soon  be  what  she  was  before ;  which 
I  heartily  pray  may  be  the  case.  I  was  rather  in  low  spirits  about 
her,  when  I  wi'ote  last  to  Mrs  Montagu. 

"  In  that  lady's  lasf  letter  to  me,  dated  21st  of  November, 
there  are  some  sentences,  which  I  shall  set  down  here,  as  I  know 
they  will  give  Mrs  Arbuthnot  pleasure. 

"  My  mind  is  so  much  engaged  by  Mrs  Arbuthnot,  I  cannot 
"  think  of  any  thing  else.  Sometimes  I  think  I  am  wicked,  in  not 
"  being  thankful  enough,  that  1  am  at  last  admitted  to  her  friend- 
'•'  ship.  I  fret  and  repine,  that  I  had  not  that  happiness  many  years 
^'  sooner.  Alas !  what  presumption  is  it  in  me  to  repine  at  this ! 
"  As  if  I  deserved  the  heartfelt-delight  of  being  in  any  degree 
"  serviceable  to  one  of  the  best  of  human  beings.  What  pleasure 
"  shovild  I  have  had  in  her  correspondence  !  While  I  read  your  ac- 
*'  count  of  her  noble  and  delicate  manner  of  receiving  the  friend- 
"  ship  of  one,  who  had  a  high  veneration  for  her  and  her  aunt,  I 
^*  lived  along  the  line^  and  every  word  excited  a  sensation.  I  am 
"  pleased  to  find,  that  by  her  husband  she  is  so  nearly  allied  to  my 
"  first  favourite  of  all  the  beaux  esprits^  Dr  Arbuthnot.  lie  had 
"  none  of  the  peevish  jealousies  of  Mr  Pope,  nor  the  harshness  and 
"  pride' of  Dr  Swift.  Conscious  of  more  noble  endowments,  he 
"  was  not  anxious  to  obtain  the  character  of  a  wit.  There  is  such 
"  ease,  and  so  natural  an  air  in  his  writings,  as  prove  him  to  have 
"  been  witty  without  effort  or  contrivance.  I  have  heard  my  old 
"  friend.  Lord  Bath,  speak  of  him  with  great  affection,  as  a  most 
"  worthy  and  amiable  man,  and  as  a  companion  more  pleasant  and 
"  entertaining  than  either  Pope  or  Swift.  When  I  find  much  to 
,"•'  admire  in  an  author,  I  always  wish  to  hear  he  has  qualities  for 


392  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  which  T  may  esteem  and  love  him ;  and  I  have  listened  with 
"  great  pleasure  to  Lord  Bath's  and  the  late  Lady  Hervey's  praises 
"  of  Dr  Arbuthnot.  With  what  delight  must  our  friend  at  Peter- 
"  head  read  the  works  of  so  amiable  a  relation  '.  But  the  only  real 
"  and  sincere  happiness  which  remains  for  her" 

"  What  follows  is  a  compliment  to  me,  which,  as  I  do  not  at 
all  deserve,  I  shall  not  transcribe. 

"  In  my  answer  you  will  suppose  that  I  did  not  fail  to  express 
my  approbation  of  her  sentiments  of  Dr  Arbuthnot,  which  coincide 
exactly  with  my  own.  I  have  told  her  of  Scots-mill,  and  of  my 
making  pilgrimages  to  it  as  classic  ground ;  and  I  have  told  her 
every  thing  I  know  of  Dr  Arbuthnot's  history,  so  far  as  relates  to 
this  country.  I  believe,  however,  I  omitted  to  tell  her,  that  he  and 
I  are  of  the  same  county,  and  that  I  had  the  honour  to  be  born 
within  four  miles  of  the  place  of  his  birth." 


LETTER  CLXXXIIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  HONOURABLE  MR  BARON  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  28th  February,  1785. 

"  The  Dutchess  of  Gordon  must,  I  think,  have  been  mistaken, 
when  she  wrote  to  me  some  time  ago  that  I  was  then  in  favour 
with  Lord  Monboddo.  He  never  has  pardoned  me  for  calling 
Captain  Cook  a  philosopher;  and  I  am  afraid  never  will.  Besides, 
I  think  he  did  not  use  me  quite  well  in  the  preface  to  his  "  Meta- 
"  physic ;"  and  when  a  man  uses  you  ill,  he  seldom  fails  to  hate 
you  for  it.  However,  I  have  not  retorted.  In  my  last  book,  wiien 
I  combat  his  opinions,  I  seldom  mention  his  name,  and  I  never 
mention  him  without  paying  him  a  compliment.  The  third 
volume  of  "  Metaphysic"  I  have  not  seen  ;  but  Principal  Campbell 
gave  me  the  other  day  such  an  account  of  it,  as  sadshes  me,  that 
it  must  be  the  most  extraordinary  performance  that  ever  was 
written,  and  that  he  is  determined  to  believe  every  thing  that  is  in- 
credible, I  wonder  whether  he  has  ever  read  "  The  Voyages  of 
Sinbad  the  Sailor."*     His  hatred  of  Johnson  was  singular;  he 

•  In  the  "  Arabian  Nights  Entertainment.." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  S93 

Would  not  allow  him  to  know  any  thing  but  Latin  grammar,  and 
that,  says  he,  I  knoiv  as  well  as  he  does.  I  never  heard  Johnson  say 
any  thing  severe  of  him  ;  though,  when  he  mentioned  his  name, 
he  generally 

"  Grinned  horribly  a  ghastly  smile." 

Johnson  was  a  good  man,  and  did  much  good  ;  and  every  one  who 
knew  him,  or  his  woi'ks,  must  allow  that  he  possessed  extraordinary 
abilities.     I  long  to  see  Mr  Boswell's  "  Johnsoniana." 


LETTER  CLXXXIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS,  BISHOP  OF  CHESTER. 

Aberdeen,  21st  October,  1785. 

I  READ  lately  Sheridan's  "Life  of  Swift."  It  is  panegyric  from 
beginning  to  end.  Swift  had  many  good  as  well  as  great  qualities  ; 
but  his  character  was  surely,  upon  the  whole  very  exceptionable. 
Mr  Sheridan,  however,  will  not  admit  that  he  had  any  fault.  Even 
his  brutality  to  Stella  on  her  death-bed,  which  undoubtedly  hastened 
her  dissolution,  his  biographer  endeavours  to  apologize  for  ;  and  he 
has  a  great  deal  of  very  unsatisfactory  reasoning  on  the  subject  of 
the  Yahoos.  The  question  is  not,  whether  that  man  is  not  a  very 
odious  animal,  who  finds  his  own  likeness  in  those  filthy  beings  j 
but  whether  Swift  did  not  intend  his  account  of  them  as  a  satire  on. 
iiuman  nature,  and  an  oblique  censure  of  Providence  itself  in  the 
formation  of  the  human  body  and  soul.  That  this  was  Swift's  mean- 
ing, is  to  me  as  evident,  as  that  he  wrote  the  book  :  and  yet  I  do  not 
find  my  own  likeness  in  the  Yahoos :  I  only  know,  for  I  think  I 
could  prove,  that  Swift  wished  it  to  be  understood,  as  his  opimon, 
that  the  human  species  and  the  Yahoo  are  equally  detestable.  Mr 
Sheridan  too  is  not,  I  think,  over-candid  in  what  he  says  of  Lord 
Orrery  ;  whose  book,  though  not  free  from  faults,  contains  some 
good  criticism,  and  shows  no  little  tefiderness  for  the  character  of 
his  hero. 


394  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  I  long  to  see  Dr  Johnson's  "Prayers  and  Meditations,"  and 
Mr  Boswell's  "  Journey  to  the  Hebrides  ;"  but  it  will  be  a  great 
while  before  they  find  their  way  to  this  remote  corner. 

"  Has  your  Lordship  read  Dr  Reid's  "  Essays  on  the  intellec- 
"  tual  Faculties  of  Man  ?  Those  readers  who  have  been  conversant 
in  the  modern  philosophy  of  the  mind,  as  it  appears  in  the  writings 
of  Des  Cartes,  Malebranche,  Locke,  Berkeley,  and  Hume,  will  be 
much  entertained  with  this  work,  which  does  great  honour  to  the 
sagacity  and  patience  of  the  author,  It  contains  the  principles  of 
his  former  book  laid  down  on  a  larger  scale,  and  applied  to  a  greater 
variety  of  subjects.  Ever  since  Plato,  or  rather  Pythagoras,  took 
it  into  his  head,  that  the  soul  perceives  only  what  is  contiguous  to, 
or  inclosed  in,  its  own  substance,  and  consequently  perceives  not 
outward  things  themselves,  but  only  ideas  of  them,  this  ideal  system 
has  been  increasing  in  bulk  and  absurdity  ;  and  it  is  astonishing  to 
see,  that  so  many  men  of  parts  could  be  the  dupes  of  it.  All  this 
rubbish  is  now  cleared  away,  and  a  happy  riddance  it  is.  Dr  Reid 
treats  his  opponents,  and  their  tenets,  with  a  respect  and  a  solem- 
nity, that  sometimes  tempt  me  to  smile.  His  style  is  clear  and 
simple ;  and  his  aversion  to  the  word  idea  so  great,  that  I  think 
he  never  once  uses  it  in  delivering  his  own  opinions.  That  little 
word  has  indeed  been  a  source  of  much  perplexity  to  metaphysi- 
cians ;  but  it  is  easy  to  use  it  without  ambiguity  ;  and  it  has  now 
established  itself  in  the  language  so  effectually,  that  we  cannot  well 
do  without  it.  It  was  not  without  reason,  that  the  learned  Stilling- 
fleet  took  the  alarna  at  Lock's  indiscreet  use  of  that  word.  It  was 
indeed  an  ignis  fatuus  to  poor  Mr  Locke,  and  decoyed  him,  in 
spite  of  his  excellent  understanding,  into  a  thousand  pits  and  quag- 
mires. Berkeley  it  bewildered  still  more :  and  it  reduced  David 
Hume  to  the  condition  of  a  certain  old  gentleman,  of  whom  we 
read,  that, 


-"  Fluttering  liis  pinions  vain. 


"  Plumb  down  lie  dropped  ten  thousand  fathom  deep." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  395 


LETTER  CLXXXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  15tli  November,  1785. 

"  PLEASE  to  accept,  madam,  of  my  best  thanks  for  the 
elegant  copy  of  the  last  edition  of  your  work,  which  was  forwarded 
to  me  by  Mr  Dilly.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  have  now  claimed  the 
property  of  the  three  beautiful  dialogues ;  but  it  gives  me  concern  to 
observe,  that  you  have  paid  too  much  attention  to  my  foolish  re- 
marks. 

"  The  death  of  the  Dutchess-Dowager  of  Portland*  affected  me 
most  sensibly.  I  was  no  stranger  to  her  virtues ;  I  was  under  great 
obligations  to  them  ;  and,  from  the  tranquillity  of  her  life,  the 
cheerfulness  of  her  temper,  and  the  amusing  nature  of  her  favourite 
studies,  I  had  flattered  myself,  that  great  ornament  of  her  sex  and 
country  would  live  many  years.  Poor  Mrs  Delany  ;t  I  pitied  her 
from  my  soul  ;  but  had  I  known  all  the  truth,  I  should  have  been 
much  more  in  pain  for  her.  Having  heard  that  she  brought  Dr 
Delany  ten  thousand  pounds,  which  was  a  great  fortune  sixty  years 
ago,  I  presumed  that  her  circumstances  were  at  least  independent, 
if  not  opulent.  I  must  blame  her  extraordinary  request  of  being 
omitted  in  the  Dutchess's  will ;  and  I  wonder  her  Grace  would 
comply  with  it.  What  a  charming  account  you  give  me  of  their 
Majesties'  generosity  to  Mrs  Delany  !^:  There  was  more  in  it  than 
generosity  :  there  was  an  affectionate  sympathy,  and  a  goodness 
and  tenderness  of  heart,  Avhich  does  them  more  honour  than  even 
that  high  station,  to  which  their  pre-eminence  in  virtue,  as  well  as 
the  laws  of  their  country,  gives  them  so  just  a  title.  When  the 
rage  of  party  subsides,  and  misrepresentations  are  forgotten,  how 
great,  and  how  amiable,  will  those  distinguished  characters  appear ! 

"  Among  the  many  curiosities  which  the  Dutchess  of  Portland 
had  collected,  there  was  a  volume,  which  you  have  no  doubt  seen, 
containing  some  prose-treatises  in  manuscript  of  the  poet  Prior. 

*  .Sef>p,  irS,  t  See  p.  193.  ni^'"-! 


396  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Her  Grace  was  so  good  as  to  permit  me  to  read  them,  and  I  read 
them  with  great  j)leasure.  One  of  them,  a  dialogue  between  Locke 
add  Montaigne,  is  an  admirable  piece  of  ridicule  on  the  subject  of 
Locke's  philosophy ;  and  seemed  to  me,  when  I  read  it,  to  be,  in 
wit  and  humour,  not  inferior  even  to  the  "  Alma"  itself.  I  took 
the  liberty  to  say  to  the  Dutchess,  that  it  was  pity  they  were  not 
given  to  the  world ;  but  I  foimd  her  leather  averse  to  the  publication. 
She  said,  she  could  not  bear  to  see  her  old  friend  criticised  and 
censured  by  such  people  as  the  Critical  Reviewers,  Sec.  I  hope 
the  work  will  no  longer  be  suppressed. 

"  Mr  Boswell  has  published  what  I  am  informed  is  an  extraor- 
dinary book  of  the  "  Sayings  of  Dr  Johnson."  Johnson,  no  doubt, 
said  many  good  things  :  but  his  want  of  temper,  and  violent  preju- 
dices, often  divested  him  of  his  candour,  and  made  him  say  what 
was  not  only  improper,  but  in  a  very  high  degree  censurable.  I 
hope  Mr  Boswell  has  made  the  due  distinction  between  what 
deserves  to  be  known,  and  what  ought  to  be  forgotten." 


The  following  letter  from  Dr  Beattie  to  Mr  Arbuthnot  gives, 
I  think,  a  very  just  criticism  on  Mr  Boswell's  "  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides." 


LETTER  CLXXXVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESq. 

Aberdeen,  26th  November,  1785. 

"■'  MR  BOSWELL'S  book  is  arrived  at  last,  and  I  have  just 
gone  through  it.  He  is  very  good  to  me,  as  Dr  Johnson  always 
was  ;  and  I  am  very  grateful  to  both.  But  I  cannot  approve  the 
plan  of  such  a  work.  To  publish  a  man's  letters,  or  his  conversa- 
tion, without  his  consent,  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  quite  fair :  for  how 
many  things,  in  the  hour  of  relaxation,  or  in  friendly  correspon- 
dence, does  a  man  throv/  out,  which  he  would  never  wish  to  hear 
pf  again  ;  and  what  a  restraint  would  it  be  on  all  social  intercourse, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  397 

if  one  were  to  suppose  that  every  word  one  utters  would  be  entered 
in  a  register  !  Mr  Boswell  indeed  says,  that  there  are  few  men 
who  need  be  under  any  apprehension  of  that  sort.  This  is  true  ; 
and  the  argument  he  founds  on  it  would  be  good,  if  he  had  pub- 
lished nothing  but  what  Dr  Johnson  and  he  said  and  did  :  for  John- 
son, it  seems,  knew,  that  the  publication  would  be  made,  and  did 
not  object  to  it ;  but  Mr  B.  has  published  the  sayings  and  doings 
of  other  people,  Avho  never  consented  to  any  such  thing  ;  and  who 
little  thought,  when  they  were  doing  their  best  to  entertain  and 
amuse  the  two  travellers,  that  a  story  would  be  made  of  it,  and  laid 
before  the  public.  I  approve  of  the  Greek  proverb,  that  says,  "  I 
"  hate  a  bottle-companion  with  a  memory."  If  my  friend,  after 
eating  a  bit  of  mutton  with  me,  should  go  to  the  coffee-house,  and 
there  give  an  account  of  every  thing  that  had  passed,  I  believe  I 
should  not  take  it  well. 

"  Of  Dr  Johnson  himself,  as  well  as  of  others,  many  things  are 
tofd  which  ought  to  have  been  suppressed  ;  such,  I  mean,  as  are 
rot  in  any  respect  remarkable,  and  such  as  seem  to  betray  rather 
infirmity  or  captiousness  than  genius  or  virtue.  Johnson  said  of 
^'  The  Man  of  the  World,"  that  he  found  little  or  nothing  in  it. 
Why  should  this  be  recorded  ?  Is  there  any  wit  in  it ;  or  is  it 
likely  to  be  of  any  use  ?  The  greatest  dunce  on  earth  is  capable 
of  saying  as  good  a  thing.  Of  a  very  promising  young  gentleman, 
to  whom  Dr  Johnson  was  under  the  highest  obligations,  (for  he  had 
risqued  his  life  in  Johnson's  service)  and  who,  to  the  great  grief  of 
all  who  knew  him,  unfortunately  perished  at  sea  about  ten  years  ago, 
Dr  Johnson  said,  that  it  was  pity  he  was  not  more  intellectual. 
Why  should  this  be  recorded  ?  I  will  allow,  that  one  friend  might, 
without  blame,  say  this  to  another  in  confidence  ;  but  to  publish  it 
to  the  world,  when  it  cannot  possibly  give  pleasure  to  any  person, 
and  will  probably  give  pain  to  some,  is,  in  my  judgment,  neither  wit 
nor  gratitude  :  and  I  am  sure  Mr  Boswell,  who  is  a  very  good- 
natured  man,  would  have  seen  it  in  this  light,  if  he  had  given  him- 
self time  to  think  of  it.  At  Aberdeen  the  two  travellei's  were  most 
hospitably  entertained,  as  they  themselves  acknowledge  ;  and  when 
they  left  it,  they  said  to  one  another,  that  they  had  heard  at  Aber- 
deen nothing  which  deserved  attention.  There  Avas  nothing  in. 
saying  this  :  but  why  is  it  recorded  ?  For  no  reason  that  I  can  ima- 
gine, unless  it  be  in  order  to  return  evil  for  good.     I  found  so  manv 


398  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

passages  of  this  nature  in  the  book,  that  upon  the  whole  it  left  ra- 
ther a  disagreeable  impression  upon  my  mind  ;  though  I  readily 
own  there  are  many  things  in  it  which  pleased  me. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Chester's  thoughts  on  this  subject  are  so  per- 
tinent and  so  well  expressed,  that  I  am  sure  you  will  like  to  see 
them  :  "  You  will,"  says  his  Lordship  in  a  letter  which  I  received 
yesterday,  "  be  entertained  with  Mr  Boswell's  book,  and  edified 
"  with  some  of  Johnson's  prayers  ;  but  you  will  wish  that  many 
"  things  in  both  those  publications  had  been  omitted  :  and,  per- 
"  haps,  if  they  had  not  existed  at  all,  it  would  have  been  better  still. 
"  Johnson's  friends  will  absokitely  kill  him  with  kindness.  His 
"  own  character,  if  left  to  itself,  would  naturally  raise  him  very  high 
"  in  the  estimation  of  m.ankind  ;  but  by  loading  it  with  panegyric, 
"  anecdotes,  lives,  journals,  Sec.  and  by  hanging  round  it  even  all 
"  his  little  foibles  and  infirmities,  they  will  sink  it  lower  in  the 
"  opinion  of  the  best  judges  of  merit.  I  saw  lately  a  letter  from 
"  Mrs  Piozzi,  (late  Mrs  Thrale)  in  which  she  announces  her  Anec- 
"  dotes  of  Dr  Johnson  to  be  published  this  winter  ;  and  after  that 
"  are  to  follow  his  Letters  to  her,  &c.  Mr  Boswell  also  is  to  give 
"  us  his  Life  ;  and  Sir  John  Hav/kins  is  writing  another  to  be  pre- 
"  fixed  to  a  complete  edition  of  his  works.  Our  modest  and  worthy 
"  friend,  Mr  Langtcn,  is  the  only  one  who  observes  a  profound  si- 
"  lence  on  this  occasion  ;  and  yet  no  one  could  speak  to  better  pur- 
"  pose,  if  he  pleased,  and  if  he  thought  it  would  answer  any  good 
"  end." 

"  Johnson's  harsh  and  foolish  censure  of  Mrs  Montagti's  book 
does  not  siu'prise  me  ;  for  I  have  lieard  him  speak  contemptuously 
of  it.  It  is,  for  all  that,  one  of  the  best,  most  original,  and  most 
elegant,  pieces  of  criticism  in  our  language  or  any  other.  Johnson 
had  many  of  the  talents  of  a  critic  ;  but  his  want  of  temper,  his  vio- 
lent prejudices,  and  something,  I  am  afraid,  of  an  envious  turn  of 
mind,  made  him  often  a  very  unfair  one.  Mrs  Montagu  was  very 
kind  to  him  ;  but  Mrs  Montagu  has  more  wit  than  any  body  ;  and 
Johnson  could  not  bear  that  any  person  should  be  thought  to  have 
wit  but  himself.  Even  Lord  Chesterfield,  and,  what  is  more  strange, 
even  Mr  Burke,  he  would  not  allow  to  have  wit.  He  preferred 
Smollet  to  Fielding.  He  would  not  grant  that  Armstrong's  poem 
on  "  Health,"  or  the  tragedy  of  "  Douglas,"  had  any  merit.  He 
told  me,  that  he  never  read  Milton  through,  till  he  Avas  obliged  to 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  399 

do  it,  in  order  to  gathg:"  words  for  his  Dictionary.  He  spoke  very 
peevishly  of  the  masque  of  Comus  ;  and  when  I  urged  that  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  exquisite  poetry  in  it  ;  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  but  it 
"  is  like  gold  hid  under  a  rock  ;"  to  which  I  made  no  reply  ;  for 
indeed  I  did  not  well  vmderstand  it.  Pray,  did  you  ever  see  Mr 
Potter's  "  Remarks  on  Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets  ?"  It  is  very 
well  worth  reading. 

"  By  a  Latin  letter  which  I  lately  received  from  Holland,  I  am 
informed,  that  Dutch  translations  of  the  first  part  of  my  last  book, 
and  of  my  "  Remarks  on  Laughter,"  have  been  published,  the  one 
at  Haerlem,  the  other  at  Dort.  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  the  Dutch. 
The  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  they  translated  twelve  years  ago  ;  and  I 
have  a  copy  of  the  version,  which  I  am  told,  by  those  who  under- 
stand the  language,  is  very  exact. 

"  I  become  every  day  more  and  more  doubtful  of  the  propi'iety 
of  publishing  the  Scotticisms.  Our  language  (I  mean  the  Eng- 
lish) is  degenerating  very  fast ;  and  many  phrases,  Avhich  I  know 
to  be  Scottish  idioms,  have  got  into  it  of  late  years  :  so  that  many 
of  my  strictures  are  liable  to  be  opposed  by  authorities  which  the 
world  accounts  unexceptionable.  However,  I  shall  send  you  the 
manuscript,  since  you  desire  it,  and  let  you  dispose  of  it  as  you 
please." 


On  this  subject  of  Mr  Boswell's  "  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,"  I 
likewise  received  a  letter,  some  time  after,  from  Dr  Beattie,  which 
I  shall  insert  here.  But  as  it  refers  to  one  of  mine,  to  which  it  is 
in  answer  ;  and  as  that  letter  contains  some  information  respecting 
the  publication  of  that  work  of  IVIr  Boswell's  which  I  am  not  ill 
pleased  should  be  known,  I  shall  venture,  for  the  first  and  only  time, 
to  insert  in  this  work  a  letter  of  my  own.  I  found  it  among  some 
hundreds,  which  Dr  Beattie  had  preserved  :  for  he  seems  seldom 
or  never  to  have  destroyed  the  letters  he  received  from  his  friends. 


400  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CLXXXVII 


SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Edinburgh,  9th  January,  1786. 

"  Boswell's  *  book,  which  I  dare  say  you  have  seen  before* 
now,  contains  many  things  that  might,  and  several  that  ought  to 
have  been  omitted.  In  regard  to  those  of  the  first  description, 
Mr  Boswell  seems  to  have  adopted  the  idea  of  the  writers  on  glass, 
so  well  described  by  Lord  Hailes  in  one  of  his  papers  in  the 
*'  World,"  who  think  a  fact  ought  to  be  recorded  merely  because 
it  is  a  fact :  for  surely  he  has  retained  a  great  deal  of  conversation 
neither  instructive  nor  entertaining ;  although  other  parts  again 
are  highly  so.  As  to  the  offensive  passages,  I  really  do  not  believe 
that  he  considered  them  in  that  light  when  he  gave  them  to  the 
press  :  for  I  do  believe  him  to  have  been  sincere  in  his  declaration, 
that  it  Avas  not  his  intention  to  hurt  any  mortal ;  and  my  memory 
serves  me  to  recollect  many  passages  of  the  oi'iginal  MS.  which 

*  Mr  Boswell's  acquahitance  and  mine  began  at  a  very  early  period  of 
life,  and  an  intimate  correspondence  continued  between  us  ever  after.  It 
scarcely  requires  to  be  mentioned  here,  that  he  was  the  chosen  friend  of 
General  Paoli  andof  Dr  Johnson.  The  circle  of  his  acquaintance  among  the 
learned,  the  witty,  and  indeed  among  men  of  all  ranks  and  professions,  was 
extremely  extensive,  as  his  talents  were  consider.able,  and  his  convivial 
powers  made  his  company  much  in  request.  His  warmth  of  heai-t  towards 
his  friends,  was  very  great;  and  I  have  known  few  men  who  possessed 
a  stronger  sense  of  piety,  or  more  fervent  devotion  (tinctured,  no  doubt,  with 
some  little  share  of  superstition,  which  had  probably  been  in  some  degree 
fostered  by  his  habits  of  intimacy  witli  Dr  Johnson)  perhaps  not  always 
sufficient  to  regulate  his  imagination  or  direct  his  conduct,  yet  still  gen- 
uine, and  founded  both  in  his  understanding  and  his  heart.  His  "  Life" 
of  that  extraordinary  man,  with  all  the  faults  with  winch  it  has  been  charged, 
must  be  allowed  to  be  one  of  the  most  characteristic  and  entertaining  bio- 
graphical works  in  the  English  language.  For  Mr  Boswell  I  entertained 
a  sincere  regard,  which  he  returned  by  the  strongest  proof  in  his  power  to 
confer  by  leaving  me  the  guardian  of  his  children.  He  died  in  London, 
19th  May,  1795,  in  the  fifty-fifih  year  of  his  ag-e. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  401 

he  has  omitted  for  that  very  reason  ;  and  in  his  second  edition, 
which  is  now  printed,  he  tells  me  he  has  omitted  a  good  deal  of  the 
first.  I  have  been  accused  of  being  his  adviser  to  print  the 
book,  from  a  letter  of  mine  towards  the  conclusion  ;  which,  by  the 
bye,  he  inserted  without  my  knowledge  or  permission:  but  that 
letter  merely  related  to  a  perusal  of  the  MS.,  at  a  time  when  I  had 
not  the  most  distant  idea  of  his  printing  his  Journal.  I  have  also 
been  accused  of  having  written  that  complimentary  letter,  because 
of  the  eulogium  with  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  honour  me  in 
his  book :  but  that  passage,  in  which  I  am  mentioned  in  so  flatter- 
ing a  manner,  was  not  in  the  original  MS.  which  I  saw.*  As  his 
"  Life  of  Dr  Johnson"  will  probably  be  a  work  of  a  similar  nature, 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  strongly  enjoining  him  to  be  moi'e  care- 
ful what  he  inserts,  so  as  not  to  make  to  himself  enemies,  or  give 
pain  to  any  person  whom  he  may  have  occasion  to  mention:  and 
I  hope  he  will  do  so,  as  he  seems  sorry  for  some  parts  of  the  other, 

"  I  have  been  much  pleased  with  Dr  Johnson's  "  Prayers  and 
*'  Meditations  :"  they  show  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  sincere  and 
fervent  piety :  but  I  think  Mr  Strahan  has  been  much  to  blame 
in  printing  the  MS.  verbatim.  I  do  not  think  an  editor  is  at 
liberty  to  add  a  single  iota  to  the  work  of  his  author ;  but  surely 
there  could  have  been  no  crime  in  Mr  Strahan's  retrenching  oc- 
casionally a  few  things,  which  throw  in  some  degree  an  air  of  ridi- 
cule on  a  work  of  so  serious  a  nature  ;  and  which,  by  giving  cause 
for  scoffing,  will  perhaps  diminish  the  good  effects  the  book  might 
otherwise  be  expected  to  produce :  had  he  likewise  substituted 
Elizabeth,  (which  Boswell  tells  me  was  Mrs  Johnson's  real  name) 
in  the  place  of  such  a  ridiculous  appellation  as  Tetty,  surely  no 
man  could  have  found  fault  with  the  change.  It  is  somewhat  ex- 
traordinary to  see  a  mind  so  vigorous  as  his  was,  distressing  itself 
with  terrors  on  subjects  apparently  of  no  great  importance,  while 
the  whole  tenor  of  his  life  had  been  so  irreproachable  and  useful  to 
the  world  by  his  writings  ;  which  one  should  think  are  of  sufficient 
magnitude  to  render  unnecessary  his  self-accusation  of  idleness. 

"  It  would  give  you  pleasure,  I  am  sure,  to  hear  of  Mr  William 
Gregory's!  having  got  a  living.     He  is  a  most  excellent  younp- 

*  He  has  mentioned  this  in  his  second  edition,  p.  524. 

t  Son  of  the  late  Dr  John  Gregory     He  is  since  dead, 
3  E 


402  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

man  ;  and  has  well  supported  Dv  Reid's  character  of  him,^«rhen  in 
a  letter  to  me  while  he  was  at  Glasgow  college,  the  Doctor  called 
him  one  of  the  incorrufitibles.  The  living  is  worth  about  160/.  and 
it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  such  a  patron  as  the  xYrchbishop  of  Can- 
terbury." 


LETTER  CLXXXVIII. 


DK  EEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORCES. 

Aberdeen,  12th  February,  1786. 

''  IT  is  with  much  concern,  and  with  the  most  cordial  sym- 
pathy, that  I  condole  with  Lady  Forbes  and  you  on  your  late  afflic- 
tions. I  pray  God  they  may  be  sanctified  to  you  ;  that  you  may 
be  strengthened  to  bear  them  without  injury  to  your  health  ;  and 
that  the  dear  survivors  may  be  spared  for  a  comfort  to  their  parents, 
u  blessing  to  one  another,  and  an  ornament  to  society.  Those, 
whom  a  wise  Providence  has  been  pleased  to  take  away,  have  been 
soon  released  from  their  warfare,  and  have  now  an  eternity  of  hap- 
piness before  them,  Avithout  the  possibility  of  change.  This  con- 
sideration will  sooth  your  melancholy,  and  will  shortly,  I  trust, 
enable  you  to  overcome  it. 

"  What  you  say  of  Mr  Boswell  coincides  witli  my  sentiments 
exactly.  I  am  convinced  he  meant  no  harm  ;  but  many  things  in 
his  book  are  injudicious,  and  must  create  him  enemies,  and  are 
really  injurious  to  the  memory  of  Dr  Johnson.  Johnson's  faults 
were  balanced  by  many  and  great  virtues ;  and  when  that  is  the 
case,  the  virtues  only  should  be  reinembered,  and  the  faults  entirely 
forgotten.  But  in  this  book,  Johnson's  want  of  temper,'  want  of 
candour,  obstinacy  in  dispute,  and  I'age  of  contradiction,  (for  most 
of  his  speeches  began  with  ^Vb,  iilr^)  are  minutely  recorded  and 
exemplified.  I  cannot  but  take  notice  of  a  very  illiberal  saying  of 
Johnson  with  respect  to  the  late  Mr  Strahan,  (Mr  Boswell  has 
politely  concealed  the  name)  who  was  a  man  to  whom  Johnson  had 
been  much  obliged,  and  whom,  on  account  of  his  abilities  and  vir- 
tues, as  well  as  rank  in  life,  every  one  who  kncM-  him,  and  Johnson, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  403 

as  well  as  others,  acknowledged  to  be  a  most  respectable  character. 
See  page  340,*  I  have  seen  the  letter  mentioned  by  Dr  Gerard, 
and  I  have  seen  many  other  letters  from  Bishop  Warburton  to  Mr 
Strahan.  They  Avere  very  particularly  acquainted  ;  and  Mr  Stra- 
han's  merit  entitled  him  to  be  on  a  footing  of  intimacy  with  any 
Bishop,  or  any  British  subject.  He  was  eminently  skilled  in  com- 
position and  the  English  language,  excelled  in  the  epistolary  style, 
had  corrected  (as  he  told  me  himself)  the  phraseology  of  both 
Mr  Hume  and  Dr  Robertson ;  he  was  a  faithful  friend,  and  his 
great  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  business  made  him  a  very 
useful  one.  His  friendship  for  Mr  Hume  did  not  prevent  his  be- 
ing a  very  warm  friend  of  mine.  He  told  me  some  curious  anec- 
dotes of  Mr  Hume,  which  I  took  down  in  writing  at  the  time,  and 
which,  if  you  please,  I  shall  send  you. 

"  Johnson's  book  of  Prayers  is,  as  Macbeth  says,  "  a  sorry 
sight."  In  themselves  the  prayers  have  merit ;  but  the  best  pas- 
sages are  taken  from  the  "  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  which  is 
indeed  a  rich  and  inexhaustible  fund.  To  compose  forms  of  devo- 
tion is  a  most  improving  exercise  ;  and  to  publish  them  may 
be  beneficial :  but  to  publish  a  history  of  one's  own  devotions  and 
alms,  is  something  so  like  "  praying  in  the  corners  of  the  streets," 
that  I  cannot  think  Johnson  would  have  consented  to  it  till  want 
of  health  had  impaired  his  faculties.  Some  of  the  memorandums 
are  such  as  cannot  be  read  without  pain  and  pity.  Others  are  of 
a  different  character.  To  set  down  in  a  devotional  diary,  "  jV.  B. 
"  I  dined  to-day  on  herring  and  potatoes,"  is  a  most  extraordinary 
incongruity." 

•  After  so  severe  a  reproof  from  Dr  Beattie,  it  is  proper,  for  his  sake,  to 
insert  here  the  paragraph  from  Mr  BoswcU's  "  Journal"  which  occasion- 
ed it. 

"  Dr  Gerard  told  us,'  that  an  eminent  printer  was  very  intimate  with 
"  Warburton.  Johnson,  "  Why,  Sir,  he  lias  printed  some  of  his  works, 
"  and,  perhaps,  bouglit  the  property  of  some  of  them.  The  intimacy  is 
"  such  as  one  of  the  Professors  here  may  have  with  one  of  the  carpenters, 
•'  who  is  repairing  the  college,"  &.c  &.c. 


404  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE 

LETTER  CLXXXIX. 

DR  BEATTI£  TO  THE  BISHOP  OF  WOUCE3TER. 

Aberdeen,  21st  July,  1786. 

"  HAD  not  my  right  hand  been  disabled  by  a  bruise>  of 
which  I  have  not  yet  entirely  got  the  better,  I  should  have  sooner 
returned  my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  your  Lordship,  for 
your  m.ost  obliging  letter.  Your  approbation  of  my  little  book* 
does  me  the  greatest  honour ;  and  will  have  much  influence  in 
rendering  it  successful.  Lord  Hailes,  with  whom  I  passed  a  day 
not  long  ago,  is  also  well  pleased  with  it ;  and,  in  general,  it  seems 
likely  to  meet  with  a  reception  far  more  favourable  than  I  had  rea- 
son to  expect.  It  is  indeed  a  very  brief  summary  ;  but  my  friends 
are  pleased  to  think  it  has  on  that  account  a  better  chance,  in  these 
days,  to  be  read  than  if  it  had  been  of  a  greater  size. 

"  Before  I  put  it  to  the  press,  I  was  very  anxious  to  see  your 
Lordship's  "  Sermons,"  (preached  at  Lincoln's-inn)  of  which  I 
had  heard  such  an  account  as  greatly  raised  my  curiosity.  But 
even  the  best  books  find  their  way  slowly  into  this  remote  corner. 
I  have  read  the  book  once  and  again  with  great  delight  ;  and  it  will 
be  my  own  fault  if  I  am  not  the  better  for  it  as  long  as  I  live.  My 
approbation  can  add  nothing  to  its  fame  ;  yet  I  must  beg  leave  to 
say,  that  I  particularly  admire  your  happy  talent  in  expounding 
difficult  texts,  and  the  perspicuity,  conciseness,  and  elegance,  of 
your  style  :  which  I  look  upon  as  the  perfection  of  pulpit-elo- 
quence ;  being  equally  captivating  to  the  learned,  and  intelligible 
lo  the  simple, 

<'  Though  my  health  will  not  now  permit  me  to  attempt  a  long 
jpurpey,  yet  I  still  flatter  myself  with  the  hope,  that  I  shall  one  day 

•  "  Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion,  briefly  and  plainly  stated;" 
in  which  Dr  Beattie  has  given,  if  not  a  regular  deduction,  a  concise  and 
inost  useful  summary,  of  the  most  striking  and  popular  arguments,  in  ele- 
gant and  perspicuous  language,  in  support  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Gos- 
pel. It  will  be  difficult,  perhaps,  to  find  any  other  book  on  the  subject  that 
contains  more  valuable  matter,  so  well  arranged,  in  so  small  a  compass,  as 
this  litU*  treatise  of  Dr  Beattie's;  which  although  meant  chiefly  for  those 
y/ho  are  just  finishing  their  academical  course,  will  be  penised  at  any  age, 
py  the  serious  and  devout,  with  equaj  profit  and  delight. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  405 

avail  myself  of  your  kind  invitation,  and  pay  my  duty  to  your  Lord- 
ship at  Hartlebury.  The  last  time  I  was  in  England  I  did  serious- 
ly intend  it,  but  was  prevented  by  illness.'" 


In  the  year  1786  there  were  published  at  Aberdeen,  "  Outlines 
"  of  a  Plan  for  uniting  the  King's  and  Marischal  Colleges  of  Old 
"  and  New  Aberdeen,  with  a  view  of  rendering  the  System  of  Edu- 
"  cation  there  more  complete." 

A  similar  idea  of  an  union  had  been  started  in  the  year  1747, 
in  1754,  and  in  1770  ;  but  on  each  of  those  occasions,  such  oppo- 
sition had  arisen  to  it  from  one  quarter  or  another,  that  it  had  al- 
ways fallen  to  the  ground.  It  was  now  thought  that  it  might  be 
revived  with  better  hopes  of  success  ;  either  from  the  measure  be- 
ing better  understood,  or  from  the  conditions  on  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  be  cain-ied  into  effect  being  rendered  less  exceptionable 
than  they  had  formerly  been.  It  is  proper  to  mention,  that  those 
two  universities,  although  situated  within  a  mile  of  each  other,  are 
two  perfectly  distinct  and  separate  establishments,  as  much  so  as 
the  universities  of  Edmburgh  and  Glasgow,  each  having  her  own 
professors,  separate  revenues,  and  separate  jurisdictions.  As  nei- 
ther the  one  nor  the  other  contained  a  system  of  education  so  per- 
fect, nor  advantages  so  considerable  when  separate,  as  it  was 
thought  they  might  be  made  to  embrace,  if  united,  and  one  com- 
mon seminary  of  learning  were  formed  out  of  the  two,  many  per- 
sons were  of  opinion,  that  such  an  union,  if  it  could  be  brought 
about  upon  fair  and  equitable  principles,  would  tend  greatly  to  the 
benefit  of  both.  It  was  thought,  for  example,  that  one  professor  for 
each  branch  of  science  would  be  fully  equal  to  teach,  when  united, 
the  small  number  of  students  attendant  on  each  separate  class  ;  and 
that  the  classes,  by  containing  a  larger  number,  though  not  too 
great  a  body  of  students,  would  probably  draw  into  one  class  a 
gi'eater  proportion  of  young  men  of  superior  abilities,  whereby  a 
greater  emulation  would  be  excited  ;  while  the  professors,  whose 
incomes  depend  chiefly  on  their  class-fees,  would  find  their  emolu- 
ments augmented  by  their  increased  number  of  students,  whom  it 
would  be  their  object  and  endeavour  to  render  as  numerous,  as  in 
their  power,  by  their  industry  and  attention.     Nor  would  this  be  all 


406  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

the  advantage  Avhich  this  newly-modelled  seminary  of  learning- 
would  derive  from  such  an  union  ;  for,  by  means  of  the  double  sa- 
laries paid  at  present  to  the  professors  of  the  same  branch,  one  of 
each  of  vv^hich  it  vv^as  proposed  to  abolish,  as  the  present  incumbents 
should  die  out,  new  professorships  might  be  established  in  the  uni- 
ted universities,  which  do  not  at  present  exist  in  either.  Thus,  a 
school  of  medicine,  and  another  of  law,  might  be  introduced  at 
Aberdeen,  as  well  as  at  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh,  to  the  very  great 
advantage  of  the  northern  part  of  the  kingdom.  Professorships  of 
astronomy,  agriculture,  and  other  branches  not  taught  there  at  pre- 
sent, might  also  be  established ;  a  botanic  garden  might  be  created  ; 
the  libraries,  as  well  as  the  museum  and  philosophical  apparatus, 
augmented  by  additional  purchases  :  and  thus  students,  from  the 
remoter  parts  of  the  country,  might  have  the  advantage  of  finding 
a  more  complete  system  of  education  open  to  them  nearer  home, 
without  being  put  to  the  trouble  and  expence  of  going  to  look  for 
it  in  a  southern  part  of  the  country. 

Such  were  the  plausible  arguments  urged  in  favour  of  the  union, 
by  the  Principal  and  Professors  of  Marischal  College,  by  whom  the 
plan  was  at  this  time  revived.  They  were  joined,  however,  by  no 
more  than  two  of  the  Professors  of  the  neighbouring  university  ; 
the  Principal  and  all  the  others  declaring  themselves  strenuously 
adverse  to  the  measure,  as  tending  to  a  complete  overthrow  of  the 
constitution  of  their  university,  of  which  they  said  the  revenues  and 
the  patronage  were  by  much  the  most  considerable  ;  and  therefore 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  such  an  union  would  be  all  on  the 
side  of  Marischal  College. 

Whether  these  were  the  real  motives  on  the  part  of  the  Profes- 
sors of  King's  College,  or  whether,  from  the  omission  of  any  cere- 
monious punctilios  on  the  part  of  the  Professors  of  Marischal  Col- 
lege towards  their  brethren  of  King's,  in  the  manner  of  first  opening 
the  business,  the  opposition  is  to  be  attributed,  it  is  not  easy  now  to 
say.  But  that  Dr  Beattie  thought  favourably  of  the  measure,  there 
can  be  no  question  ;  as  he  appears  to  have  taken  considerable  pains 
to  bring  it  about ;  and  that  he  must  have  believed  it  possible  to  ac- 
complish such  an  union,  without  encroaching  on  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  either  party,  his  known  love  of  justice  will  not  allow 
us  to  doubt.  As  it  was  obvious,  however,  that  no  union  could  pos- 
sibly take  place  between  two  separate  and  independent  societies, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  407 

>vi(.hout  the  hearty  cpncurrence  of  at  least  a  majority  of  each,  after 
some  farther  fruitless  attempts,  which  served  only  to  widen  the  dif- 
ference between  the  two,  the  measure  was  finally  abandoned  as 
hopeless  ;  and  has  never  since  been  revived.  Whether  such  an 
union  be  really  practicable,  or  whether,  if  to  be  attained,  it  would 
be  for  the  benefit  of  science  in  general,  are  points  foreign  from  the 
present  memoir.  It  ought  not  to  be  omitted,  however,  that  as  such 
an  union  could  not  be  set  on  foot  without  even  the  attempt  being- 
productive  of  some  bad  humour  among  the  members  of  both  col- 
leges, as  soon  as  the  question  was  fairly  laid  to  rest,  Dr  Beattie 
exerted  himself  strenuously,  and  not  unsuccessfully,  in  allaying  any 
heat  that  had  arisen.  Having  an  annual  custom  of  dining  together, 
at  the  first  return  of  their  yearly  meeting,  Dr  Beattie  laboured,  that 
all  that  had  past  on  the  subject  should  be  buried  in  oblivion,  and  no- 
thing prevail  but  harmony  and  good  humour.* 

LETTER  CXC. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE;  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Peterhead,  28th  July,  1786. 

"  I  HAVE  the  pleasure  to  inform  your  Grace,  though  you 
have  no  doubt  heard  by  other  means,  that  the  scheme  for  the  union 
of  our  two  colleges  goes  on  wonderfully  well,  and  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  in  this  part  of  the  kingdom  seem 
very  much  inclined  to  promote  it.  The  petition  to  the  King  is 
subscribed  by  the  whole  Marischal  College,  (the  rector  and  dean  of 
faculty  included)  and  by  two  of  the  other  college.  I  wrote  the  other 
day  to  solicit  Lord  KinnouU's  approbation  and  advice,  which  I  am 
confident  will  not  be  with  held.  We  can  never  be  sufficiently 
thankful  to  the  Duke  of  Gordon  and  your  Grace  for  the  hoQour 

•  In  the  course  of  this  business,  avariety  of  papers,  memoirs,  cases,  plans, 
(but  none  of  them  written  by  Dr  Beattie,)  were  printed  and  circulated  by  both 
universities,  where  the  arguments  on  each  side  are  detailed.  Of  these  I  have 
iu  my  possession  a  large  collection.  But  I  am  surprised  so  little  is  preserved 
on  the  subject  in  the  "  Scots  Magazine,"  althougli  professedly  a  repository 
of  intelligence  I'cgarding  Scottish  transactions. 


408  LIFE  OF  DR  IiEx\TTlE. 

yovi  have  done  us  in  entering  so  warmly  into  pur  views  ;  and  I  re- 
joice in  the  hope,  that  we  shall,  in  a  little  time,  under  the  influence 
of  so  high  a  patronage,  succeed  in  a  measure,  which  most  of  us  have 
had  at  heart  these  many  years,  and  which«every  friend  to  literature, 
and  the  north  of  Scotland,  unless  blinded  by  prejudice  and  self-in- 
terest, must  see  to  be  so  very  desirable. 

"  I  have  deferred  sending  my  little  book  *  to  the  library  of  Gor- 
don-castle, till  a  new  and  more  correct  edition  should  come  out ; 
which  will  probably  be  soon,  as  it  has  been  a  great  while  at  the 
press.  The  first  edition  was  all  sold  in  about  five  weeks,  and  has 
met  with  a  reception  much  more  favourable  than  I  could  have  ex- 
pected. 


LETTER  CXCI. 


UR    BENJAMIN    RUSH    TO    DR    BEATTiK. 

Philadelphia,  1st  August,  1786. 

"  THE  American  revolution,  which  divided  the  British  em- 
pire, made  no  breach  in  the  republic  of  letters.  As  a  proof  of  this, 
a  stranger  to  your  person,  and  a  citizen  of  a  country  lately  hostile 
to  yours,  has  expressed  his  obligations  to  you  for  the  knowledge  and 
pleasure  he  has  derived  from  your  excellent  writings,  by  procuring 
your  admission  into  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  a  certifi- 
cate of  which,  subscribed  by  our  illusti'ious  president,  Dr  Franklin, 
and  the  other  officers  of  the  Society,  you  will  receive  by  the  next 
vessel  that  sails  to  any  port  in  North-Britain  from  this  city. 

"  The  stranger,  alluded  to,  finished  his  studies  in  medicine  in 
Edinburgh  in  the  year  1769,  and  has  ever  since  taught  chemistry 
and  medicine  in  the  college  of  Philadelphia.  His  name  (with  the 
greatest  respect  for  yours)  is, 

"    BENJAMIN    RUSH." 

*  "Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion.'' 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  409> 


LETTER  CXCIL 


CR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  10th  September,  1786. 

"  PERMIT  me  now  to  return  my  most  grateful  acknow- 
ledgments to  your  Grace  and  the  Duke,  for  your  goodness  in  in- 
teresting yourselves  so  much  in  my  recovery.  When  I  saw  the 
letter  to  Dr  Livingston,  your  kind  attention  drew  tears  from  my 
eyes.  I  have  had  a  pretty  severe  illness.  The  fever  came  on  about 
six  weeks  ago  ;  and  I  am  still  so  weak,  that  it  fatigues  me  to  walk 
up  or  down  stairs,  and  exhausts  me  to  write  the  shortest  letter  upon 
the  most  ordinary  business. 

"  I  know  not  what  others  are,  but  I  begin  to  be  low-spirited  on 
the  subject  of  the  union.  Mr  ******'$  last  letter  seems,  as  Milton 
says,  to  cast 

"  Ominous  conjecture  on  the  whole  success." 

Lord  ******  too  appears  to  have  som.e  unfavourable  prepossessions. 
Lord  ****  is  very  old  and  infirm  ;  and  I  much  doubt,  whether  we 
can  with  propriety  give  him  the  trouble  of  taking  an  active  part  in 
the  affair.  I  am  very  willing  to  believe,  that  the  present  state  of 
my  nerves  may  incline  me  more  to  despondence  than  there  is  any 
good  reason  for  ;  and  I  heai'tily  wish  this  may  be  the  case.  What- 
ever may  be  the  result,  the  Marischal  College  have  no  reason  to 
be  ashamed  of  what  they  have  done.  The  very  general  approbation 
which  their  conduct  has  received  from  the  most  respectable  part  of 
the  community,  does  them  the  greatest  honour,  and  will,  I  trust, 
prepare  matters  for  bringing  forward  an  union  one  time  or  other, 
and  probably  at  a  period  not  very  remote.  That  is  now  clearly 
ascertained,  which  was  never  so  well  known  before,  that  the  voice 
of  the  public  declares  for  an  union  in  the  most  explicit  terms." 


410  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CXCUL 


DRBEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  14th  September,  1786. 

"  I  AM  indebted  to  you  for  two  very  affectionate  and  enter- 
taining letters,  and  will  endeavour  to  answer  them  as  soon  as  my 
head  and  hand  are  a  little  better  settled.  At  present  I  can  hardly 
hold  a  pen. 

"  I  am  very  happy  to  hear  of  your  visit  to  Hunton.  I  often 
wished  the  Bishop  of  Chester  and  you  acquainted.  He  wrote  me 
word  of  his  having  met  with  Lady  Forbes  and  you,  and  of  the  great 
satisfaction  he  had  in  the  hopes  of  a  visit  from  you.  You  would 
like  Mrs  Porteus  greatly.  Her  cheerfulness,  good  sense,  and  good- 
Ijiess  of  heart,  make  her  a  most  excellent  companion  for  the  Bishop, 
and  exceedingly  beloved  by  all  who  know  her.  As  you  were  but  a 
day  at  Hunton,  you  would  see  but  little  of  Lady  Twisden,  who  is 
as  remarkable  for  modesty  as  for  every  other  virtue  ;  but  if  you 
had  been  with  her  for  some  days,  you  would  have  found  her  most 
worthy  of  that  character  which  I  think  I  formerly  gave  you  of 
her. 

"  We  have  had  much  talk  about  uniting  our  two  colleges.  I 
was  desired  to  write  to  you  about  it  long  ago  ;  but  would  not  then 
troujble  you,  as  Lady  Forbes  was  indisposed ;  and  of  late  I  have 
not  been  able  to  write.  The  union  is  much  approved  of  by  the 
country  in  general ;  but  it  is  opposed  by  the  Principal  and  six  of 
the  Professors  of  King's  College.  I  shall  tell  you  more  about  it 
very  soon,  and  send  you  some  memorials  and  other  papers." 


The  following  letter  relates  to  a  plan  which  had  been  formed 
by  some  of  Dr  Beattie's  friends  here,  of  publishing  the  prose-works 
of  Addison  in  a  separate  collection.  The  admirers  of  that  eminent 
moralist,  and  truly  classical  writer,  had  long  lamented,  that,  in  order 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  4U 

to  be  gratified  with  a  perusal  of  his  excellent  compositions,  they  were 
forced  to  look  for  them  in  scattered  parts  and  in  separate  volumes. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  magnificent  edition,  in  quarto,  by  Baskerville, 
of  the  writings  of  Addison ;  but  that  book  contains  not  only  his 
prose,  but  his  poetical  pieces,  which  are  certainly  not  the  best  of 
his  performances  ;  and  it  is  likewise  so  expensive,  as  to  be  above 
the  reach  of  uiany  who  would  otherwise  wish  to  be  pui'chasers  ; 
and  who  would  also  be  gratified  by  a  perusal  of  some  anecdotes  of 
his  life  not  generally  to  be  met  with.  Such  a  selection,  therefore, 
from  his  prose-writings  only,  together  with  a  critique  on  his  style 
and  manner  of  writing,  it  was  thought  would  be  a  most  acceptable 
present  to  the  admirers  of  Addison.  Nor  did  we  know  any  one  so 
fit  for  the  task  as  Dr  Beattie,  whose  good  taste,  added  to  his  enthu- 
siastic admiration  of  that  author,  whom  he  had  chosen  as  his  own 
model  in  composition,  qualified  him  highly  for  such  an  under- 
taking. On  its  being  proposed  to  him,  he  most  cheerfully  agreed 
to  set  about  it  without  delay  ;  and  even  promised  to  himself  much 
gratification  in  the  execution. 

The  original  intention  was  to  have  published  the  whole  of 
Addison's  prose-works,  to  which  Dr  Beattie  proposed  to  prefix  a 
biographical  and  critical  preface,  in  the  latter  part  of  which  he 
meant  to  insert  a  Critique  on  the  style  of  Addison,  so  as  to  have 
shown  its  peculiar  merits,  as  well  as  to  have  pointed  out  historically 
the  changes  which  the  English  language  has  undergone  from  time 
to  time,  and  the  hazard  to  which  it  is  exposed  of  being  debased  and 
corrupted  by  the  innovations  which  have  of  late  years  found  their 
way  into  the  style  of  our  best  and  most  esteemed  writers.  Such 
a  preface,  however,  if  properly  executed,  he  found  would  run  the 
length  of  half  a  volume,  and  would  require  both  more  time  and 
application  than  the  state  of  his  health  and  other  avocations  would 
permit  him  to  bestow  upon  it.  He  was  therefore  compelled, 
though  reluctantly,  to  abandon  a  plan,  from  the  performance  of 
which  he  had  looked  forward  Avith  such  high  expectations  of 
intellectual  delight.  He  gave  hopes,  indeed,  that  he  might  resume 
the  design,  at  some  future  period,  of  commenting  on  the  prose- 
Avritings  of  Addison  ;  but  he  did  not  live  to  carry  it  into  execution. 
All  that  he  was  able  to  do,  therefore,  on  occasion  of  the  re-publica- 
tion of  these  periodical  papers,  (to  which  were  added  his  "  Evi- 
*'  dences  of  the  Christian  Religion,"   was  to  subjoin  Tickell's 


412  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Life  of  Addison"  entire,  which,  though  brief,  is  authentic,  and 
extremely  well  written,  together  with  some  extracts  from  Dr 
Johnson's  "  Remarks  on  Addison's  Prose."  This  Dr  Beattie  has 
accordingly  done  ;  adding  a  few  notes  to  make  up  for  any  material 
deficiency  there  may  be  thought  to  be  in  Tickell's  narrative,  and 
illustrating  Johnson's  ci'itique  by  a  few  occasional  annotations. 
Slight  as  those  additions  are  which  Dr  Beattie  has  made  to  his  stock 
of  materials,  with  which  he  originally  set  to  work,  the  admirer  of 
Addison  will  be  much  gratified  by  some  new  information  which  he 
was  ignorant  of  before,  and  to  which  Dr  Beattie  has  given  a  degree 
of  authenticity,  by  adhering,  even  in  this  instance,  to  his  general 
practice  of  putting  his  name  to  every  thing  he  wixite.* 


LETTER  CXCIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  HOBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESQ. 


Aberdeen,  13th  November,  1786. 

"  I  MEAN  instantly  to  set  about  the  preface  to  Addison.  I 
beg  you  will  inform  me,  whether  the  printing  of  the  edition  be 
actually  begun,  and  when  Mr  Creech  thinks  it  will  be  finished. 
As  my  preface  will  be  printed  last,  it  will  come  in  good  time  (I 
suppose)  five  or  six  months  hence.  I  intend  to  give  in  it,  first,  a 
brief  account  of  Addison's  life  (in  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
contradict  some  of  Johnson's  remarks)  ;  and,  secondly,  a  sort  of 
criticism  on  his  writings,  particularly  his  prose-style.  On  this 
head,  it  will  fall  in  my  way  to  speak  of  the  present  rage  of  innova- 
tion in  our  language  ;  a  subject  which  I  have  touched  upon  in  the 
preface  to  the  Scotticisms,  but  which  I  purpose  to  consider  with 
some  minuteness  in  the  other  preface. 

•  This  work  was  printed  at  Edinburgh,  in  four  volumes,  8vo,  for  W. 
Creech  and  J.  Sibbald,  1790. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  413 


LETTER  CXCV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  30th  November,  1786. 

"  I  AM  greatly  obliged  to  you,  my  dear  Sir,  for  your  very 
iind  letter  of  the  1 6th,  no  part  of  which  gave  me  more  pleasure, 
than  the  account  you  favour  me  with  of  your  son's  proficiency. 
You  did  very  right  in  sending  him  to  pass  some  months  in 
England.  At  his  age  it  is  not  so  difficult,  as  it  comes  to  be  after- 
wards, to  get  the  better  of  a  provincial  dialect ;  and  I  am  very 
happy  to  understand,  that  he  has  acquired  so  much  of  the  English 
pronunciation  ;  Greek  and  Latin  he  had  in  sufficient  abundance 
before.  It  will  likewise  be  of  singular  use  to  him  to  have  been  in 
a  strange  country  for  a  little  time ;  for  such  we  may  call  England, 
notwithstanding  that  we  all  live  under  the  same  government ;  so 
very  different  are  the  customs,  and  modes  both  of  thinking  and 
speaking,  from  those  of  Scotland.  His  passing  a  few  months  in 
France  next  year,  will  tend  still  more  to  his  improvement,  by  pre- 
senting him  with  a  system  of  manners  still  more  different  from 
those  of  his  own  country,  and  by  prepai-ing  him  betimes  for  a  cor- 
rect pronunciation  of  the  French  tongue.  Youth  is  the  best  time 
both  for  acquiring  languages,  and  for  getting  the  better  of  those 
national  prejudices,  which  are  so  apt  to  adhere  to  the  man  who  has 
never  stirred  from  home  ;  and  which  are  equally  unfriendly  to 
Christian  charity,  to  true  politeness,  and,  I  may  add,  to  the  advance- 
ment of  a  man's  interest  even  in  this  world. 

"  The  opposition  to  the  projected  scheme  of  uniting  the  colleges 
is  much  to  be  regretted ;  but,  as  the  voice  of  the  country  is  so 
clearly  on  the  side  of  those  who  favour  the  union,  I  would  fain  hope, 
that  in  time  the  opposition  may  become  more  faint,  and  at  last  be 
withdrawn  altogether.  At  present  matters  seem  to  be  at  a  stand. 
The  arguments  on  both  sides  have  been  prosecuted  with  a  minute- 
ness, and  perhaps  too  with  an  acrimony,  which  was  unnecessary  ; 
but  such  things  must  always  be  expected  in  such  cases:  and,  were 


414  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

an  union,  after  all,  to  take  place,  I  am  persuaded,  that  those  alter- 
cations would  be  immediately  forgotten,  and  that  we  should  be 
better  friends  than  ever.  Such  revolutions  happen  in  love  and 
friendship :  and  why  may  they  not  happen  in  a  contest  like  the 
present  ?  in  which,  properly  speaking,  there  is  no  hostility  ;  the 
only  thing  aimed  at,  being  to  make  both  societies  more  respectable 
than  ever  they  were  before,  without  injury  to  any  private  interest 
whatever.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you,  that  Marischal 
College  is  this  year  more  crowded  with  students,  than  it  has  been 
any  time  these  fifty  years.  Our  public  hall  is  indeed  quite  full ; 
so  that  there  is  reason  to  think  it  was  never  better  filled  than  at 
present.  The  other  colle  t  is  not  so  flourishing.  Their  students 
are  said  to  be  under  ninety  ;  ours  to  be  above  an  hundred  and  forty. 
I  will  not  say  that  this  account  is  perfectly  exact,  but  have  reason 
to  think  it  is  nearly  so. 

"  I  am  just  now  reading  Lord  Hailes's  new  performance 
against  Mr  Gibbon.  There  is  much  learning  in  it,  and. great 
knowledge  of  the  subject;  but  I  wish  he  would  make  his  reason- 
ing a  little  more  pointed  and  popular.  He  often  leaves  his  reader 
to  draw  the  conclusions  from  his  premises  ;  which  is  the  most 
inoffensive  way  of  conducting  controversy,  but  not  perhaps  the 
most  instructive.  It  gives  me  also  concern  to  see  so  very  able  and 
so  learned  a  writer  aflect  sometimes  the  new-fangled  cant  style. 

"  Your  account  of  Sir  J.  Reynolds'  new  picture  is  very  enter- 
taining. It  is  an  unpromising  subject ;  but  Sir  Joshua's  invention 
win  sup],  y  every  thing."* 

•  The  Infant-Hercules  strangling  the  Serpents  ;  a  large  picture  painted 
for  the  late  Empress  of  Russia,  and  now  at  St  Petersburgh.  It  is  indeed  a 
wonderful  effort  of  the  pencil  of  that  great  master.  The  hero  himself  is  re- 
presented as  a  stout,  gruff,  chubbed  boy,  squeezing  the  animals  by  the  throat, 
one  in  each  hand,  with  the  utmost  unconcern  ;  while  the  passion  of  fear  is 
finely  expressed  in  tlie  countenances  of  the  mother  and  attendants,  and 
admirably  diversified :  that  of  the  modier  being  solely  for  her  child,  while 
that  of  the  attendants  is  evidently  for  themselves.  Tiresias  stands  by,  a 
truly  venerable  figure :  and  Juno  appears  in  the  clouds,  anxiously  waiting  the 
success  of  her  experiment. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  415 


LETTER  CXCVI. 


UR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM    FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  22cl  Januarj',  1T87. 

"  MISS  Bowdler's  "  Essays"*  are  just  come  to  hand,  and 
give  me  a  very  high  idea  both  of  the  head  and  of  the  heart  of  the 

*  We  are  informed  by  a  prefatory  advertisement,  that  these  "  Poems. 
"  and  Essays,"  the  production  of  Miss  Jane  Bowdler,  were  written  to  re- 
lieve the  tedious  hours  of  pain  and  sickness.  To  the  humble  and  pious 
Christian,  who  feels  the  pressui-e  of  distress,  and  seeks  in  religion  that  sup- 
port and  consolation  which  nothing  else  can  bestow,  they  present  an  exam- 
ple of  patience  and  resignation  which  no  sufferings  could  conquer.  Nor  is 
it  the  pride  of  Stoicism  that  these  pages  exhibit.  The  author  felt,  with  the 
keenest  sensibility,  the  vmcommon  misfortune  which  condemned  her  for  ten 
j'ears  in  the  prime  of  life  to  constantly  increasing  sufferings  ;  but  she  found 
in  the  principles  which  are  here  laid  down,  such  motives  of  consolation,  as 
rendered  her  superior  to  all  the  sorrows  of  life,  and  to  the  lingering  tortures 
of  a  most  painful  death.  Of  the  singular  merit  of  these  ♦'  Essays"  there 
can  be  no  higher  praise  than  that  of  an  amiable  and  excellent  moralist,!  who 
has  declared,  that  he  considered  this  performance  as  a  production  of  inestima- 
ble value  to  every  reader,  who  has  a  taste  for  elegant  composition,  or  a  heart 
disposed  to  profit  by  wise  instruction ;  instruction  the  more  forcible,  as  she  was 
the  bright  example  of  her  own  excellent  precepts.  The  genuine  principles  of 
Christian  ethics,  undebased  by  the  smallest  alloy  of  bigotry  or  superstition, 
are  judiciously  pursued  through  their  important  consequences,  and  applied 
with  singular  accuracy  to  the  various  purposes  of  moral  agency.  The  lan- 
guage and  the  sentiments  are  level  to  the  most  ordinary  understanding,  at 
the  same  time  that  the  most  impro'ced  vi\\\  find  mucli  to  admire  in  both. 

Miss  Bowdler  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Bowdler,  Esq.  of 
Asliley,  a  gentleman  of  independent  fortune,  who,  being  bred  to  no  profes- 
sion, resided  chiefly  at  Bath,  where  he  gave  mucli  of  lus  time  to  study, 
and  the  company  of  men  of  letters.  He  was  a  person  of  great  piety 
and  woi'th.  As  an  unequivocal  proof  of  his  singular  attention  to  the 
strict  discharge  of  religious  duties,  he  constantly  retained  a  domestic 
chaplain,  who  regularly  officiated  in  his  family.     He  died  at  Bath,  2d  May, 

ir85. 

t  See  a  letter  incerted  soon  after  the  death  of  Miss  Bowdler,  and  the  publication  of  the 
"  Essays,"  in  the  "  Bath  Clironiclc/'  by  Wiliiam  Melmotb,]Esq.  author  of  the  "  Letters  of  Sir 
■' Thomas  Fit/,osbornr,"  S.C.  &r. 


416  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATI^IE. 

excellent  author.  Such  examples  of  piety  and  resignation  rarely 
occur  ;  and  the  person  who  publishes  them  does  an  important  ser- 
vice to  mankind.     The  preface  too,  though   short,   is  admirably 

Allhoug-h  Mr  Bowdler,  from  his  attachment  to  books,  may  in  some  de- 
gree be  considered  as  a  literary  character,  he  never,  as  far  as  I  know,  ap- 
peared in  print,  like  most  of  his  family.  Besides  the  amiable  sufferei-,  the 
author  of  these  "  Essays,"  their  mother,  Mrs  Bowdler,  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Cotton,  was  possessed  of  very  extraordinary  talents.  Such  was  her 
proficiency  as  a  scholar,  that  she  was  even  well  acquainted  with  the  Greek 
and  Hebrew  languages;  and  thus  read  the  Scriptures,  wliich  were  her  fa- 
vourite study,  in  the  original.  Yet,  with  all  this  store  of  knowledge,  she 
never  intruded  it  into  conversation,  ijor  made  any  useless  parade  of  her 
superior  accomplishments.  She  pi'inted,  at  first  anonymously,  but  since  her 
death  they  have  been  published  by  her  family  with  her  name,  "  Practical 
*'  Observations  on  the  Revelation  of  St  John."  Whatever  may  be  thought 
of  Mrs  Bovvdler's  lucubrations  themselves,  upon  this  mysterious  book,  we 
cannot  but  be  pleased  with  the  practical  inferences  which  her  work  contains. 
She  died  at  Bath,  10th  May,  1797,  in  her  eightieth  year. 

Tlieir  eldest  son,  the  present  Mr  Bowdler,  a  name  justly  respected  by 
every  friend  of  virtue  and  rehgion,  published  in  the  year  1797,  an  excellent 
and  well-timed  pamphlet  in  a  plain  and  familiar  style,  entitled,  "  Reform 
"  or  Ruin,"  at  a  period  when  our  national  concerns  wore  a  very  gloomy 
aspect,  yet  when  national  dissipation,  apparently  the  certain  forerunner  of 
our  destruction  as  an  empire,  seemed  arrived  at  its  height. 

This  title  of  Mr  Bowdler's  pamphlet  deceived  many.  At  the  time  it  was 
published,  multiplied  pamphlets  came  out  on  the  subject  of  political  reforvi  ; 
and  some  people  were  probably  Induced  to  peruse  this  of  Mr  Bowdler's, 
wlio  little  suspected  that  the  "  reform"  he  recommended  was  a  reformation 
of  manners,  not  of  tlie  constitution. 

Mr  Thomas  Bowdler,  t!ie  late  Mr  Bowdler's  second  son  (the  gentleman 
mentioned  in  Dr  Beattie's  letter)  published  "  Letters  written  from  Hol- 
"land,  1787,  containing  a  History  of  the  Expedition  into  HolLand  under  the 
"  Duke  of  Brunswick,  in  the  year  1786  :"  and  Miss  Harriet  Bowdler  has 
instructed  the  world  by  a  volume,  publlslied  anonymously,  of  practical 
"  Sermons  on  the  Doctrines  and  Duties  of  Christianity,"  which  do  equal 
honour  to  her  piety,  her  taste,  and  her  knowledge  of  the  human  heart ;  and 
wliicli  cannot  be  carefully  perused  by  any  one,  without  exciting  in  the  mind 
the  best  and  most  useful  impressions  of  duty.  There  yet  remains  to  be 
mentioned  another  daugliter  of  Mr  Bowdler,  who,  though  she  lias  neverpub- 
llshed  any  literary  work,  possesses  a  taste  and  an  understanding  highly 
cultivated,  with  powers  of  epistolary  composition,  which  speak  her  to  be 
mistress  of  talents,  were  she  to  employ  them  for  the  press,  by  no  means 
inferior  to  those  of  the  other  branches  of  this  extraordinary  family.  I  have 
long  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  her  classical  and  instructive  correspondence-; 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  4<lt 

Written,  and  give  such  an  emphasis  to  what  follows  in  the  book,  a-s 
cannot  fail  to  recommend  religion  to  the  most  inattentive,  if  they 
will  only  take  the  trouble  to  read  this  truly  valuable  work.  I  was 
wonderfully  struck  and  pleased  with  the  beauty  and  propriety  of 
the  motto  from  Ariosto  ;  and  it  brings  tears  into  my  eyes  when  I 
consider  it  as  an  apostrophe  to  a  departed  saint.  I  beg  you  will 
return  my  most  grateful  and  affectionate  acknowledgments  to  the 
lady  who  honours  me  with  this  present,  which  I  value  more  than 
I  can  express,  which  I  trust  has  already  done  me  good,  and  which 
I  am  sure  will  do  me  a  great  deal  more,  if  it  is  not  my  own  fault. 
I  am  no  stranger  to  the  character  of  this  lady's  family,  having  often 
heard  of  it  from  Mrs  Montagu.  And,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  brother 
of  her's  once  did  me  the  honour  to  sup  at  my  house  in  Aberdeen, 
in  company  with  Mrs  Montagu's  nephew,  Mr  Robinson.  He 
seemed  to  be  an  excellent  young  man,  and  I  was  much  pleased  with 
his  conversation.  I  should  be  very  happy  to  hear  that  he  is  alive 
and  well. 

I  have  had  two  letters  lately  from  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  in 
both  which  he  and  Mrs  Porteus  desire  to  be  particularly  remem- 
bered to  Lady  Forbes  and  you.  Ke  informs  me,  that  the  subscrip- 
tion-price of  the  new  edition  of  Shakespeare  adorned  with  draw- 
ings by  the  best  hands,  from  designs  by  the  best  painters,  will  not 
be  less  than  one  hundred  guineas  for  each  copy.  At  this  rate, 
one  shall  give  the  price  of  an  ordinary  book  for  a  sight  of  this. 
However,  magnificent  works  of  this  kind  do  honour  to  the  nation 
that  produces  them,  and  raise  a  laudable  emulation  among  artists, 
and  at  the  same  time  serve  to  give  foreigners  a  high  idea  of  the 
erenius  in  honour  of  whom  thev  are  imdertaken.  The  French 
pique  themselves  and  very  justly,  on  a  splendid  and  elegant  edi- 
tion of  La  Fontaine's  "  Fables,"  which  is  sold  for  twelve  or  four- 
teen pounds;  but  that  work  will  be  nothing  to  this.  Clarke's 
edition  of  ''  Cxsar"  was  lately  sold  by  auction  in  London  for  forty- 
eight  pounds:  it  is  indeed  a  most  splendid  work,  and  the  "  Spec- 
•'  tator"  speaks  of  it  as  the  glory  of  the  British  press  ;  but  the 
<Miginal  price  was  only  twelve  pounds.  The  finest  copy  I  ever  saw 
of  this  edition  is  in  the  librarv  at  Gordon  Castle." 


ill  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIK. 


LETTER  CXCVII. 


DJl  BEATTIE  TO  THE  HONOURABLE  MR  BARON  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  5th  March,  1787. 

*'  I  AM  happy  to  inform  you,  that  on  the  first  of  March  yoii- 
were  unanimously  re-elected  Lord-Rector  of  Marischal  College 
for  the  ensuing  year.  Your  assessors  are  also  re-elected  ;  and 
Major  Mercer  is  re-elected  Dean  of  Faculty.  This  matter  was 
conducted  with  the  greatest  unanimity.  All  the  college,  students 
as  well  as  professors,  are  very  sensible  of  the  obligations  they  are 
under  to  you,  for  your  constant  attention  to  the  interests  of  the 
society. 

"  You  are  very  partial,  my  dear  Sir,  to  my  son's  little  attempt 
in  Latin  poetry  ;  which,  however,  I  acknowledge  to  be  rather  ex- 
traordinary, considering  his  years  and  opportunities.  It  may  show, 
that  classical  learning  is  not  quite  so  much  neglected  at  Marischal 
College,  as  some  of  our  southern  neighbours  would  wish  the  pub- 
lic to  believe.  He  has  employed  himself,  dui'ing  this  winter,  in  a 
variety  of  compositions,  both  Latin  and  English,  both  prose  and 
verse  ;  all  which  he  will  be  solicitous  to  lay  before  his  rector,  when 
a  proper  opportunity  occurs. 

"  Finding  that  he  is  fond  of  a  studious  and  academical  life,  I 
have  been  revolving  a  plan  for  him,  wliich  to  you,  as  a  friend,  and 
as  the  first  (acting)  magistrate  in  the  university,  I  would  have  men- 
tioned two  or  three  weeks  ago,  if  I  had  been  able  to  write.  I  have 
laid  it  before  the  college,  in  a  letter,  a  copy  whereof  I  beg  leave  to 
send  you  : 

''  To  the  Princijial  and  other  Professors  of  ^Marischal  College. 

"  GENTLEMEN, 

"  I  take  the  liberty  to  address  you  on  a  subject,  which  is  inter 
'*  resting  to  me,  and  of  some  importance  to  the  college  ;  and  I  do  it 
^  in  writing  because  it  is  reasonable  that  ye  should  deliberate  upon  it 
*"'  when  I  am  not  present. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  419 

*'  The  state  of  my  health  for  some  time  past,  though  it  has  not 
-"  as  yet  hindered  me  from  performing  the  duties  of  my  office,  has 
"  however  been  such  as  leads  me  often  to  think  both  of  an  assistant 
"  and  of  a  successor  ;  and  many  obvious  reasons  make  me  wish, 
"  that  one  and  the  same  person  may  serve  in  both  capacities.  It  is 
*'  natural  for  me  to  prefer  my  son  toothers  in  a  matter  of  this  kind, 
*'  as  he  likes  an  academical  and  studious  life  ,  and  as  he  is,  if  not 
"  sufficiently  qualified,  at  least  as  well  qualified  for  the  office  as  I 
"  was,  after  I  had  been  seven  yeai-s  a  professor. 

"  It  is  by  no  means  my  intention  to  give  over  teaching.  On 
"  the  contrary,  I  will  never  permit  any  body  to  teach  my  class,  as 
"  long  as  I  am  able  to  teach  it.  For  habits  of  seven-and-twenty 
''  years  standing  are  not  easily  got  the  better  of;  and  I  find  so  much 
"  amusement  in  this  business,  which  on  all  ordinary  occasions  gives 
"  me  no  trouble,  that,  if  1  were  to  retire  from  it,  I  am  certain  that 
"  my  health  would  be  much  worse  than  it  is. 

"  But  it  would  be  a  great  relief  to  my  mind,  to  know,  that,  in 
"  the  event  of  my  being  confined  by  illness,  the  business  of  the  clas,s 
"  would  suffer  no  interruption:  and  I  presume,  that,  if  my  assistant 
"  were  to  appear  in  it  as  a  professor,  it  would  be  no  diflkult  matter 
"  for  him,  with  my  advice  and  influence,  to  establish  his  authority. 
"  If  he  live  to  see  the  beginning  of  next  session,  my  son  will  be  in 
"  the  twentietli  year  of  his  age. 

"  Of  his  behaviour  and  proficiency  while  at  college,  I  need  not 
"  say  any  thing  ;  as  that  is  sufficiently  known  to  those  professors 
"  under  whom  he  studied,  and  from  whom  he  received  so  many 
"  marks  of  particular  attention  and  kindness.  It  may  be  proper, 
"  however,  that  I  lay  before  the  college  some  things  concerning 
"  him,  which  they  cannot  be  supposed  to  know.  And,  in  doing 
*'  this,  I  do  nothing  more  for  him,  than  justice  would  require  me  to 
"  do  for  any  other  young  man  in  his  circumstances,  and  whom  I 
"  equally  well  knew. 

"  Having  for  some  years  had  this  employment  in  view  for  him, 
"  I  took  pains  to  give  such  a  direction  to  his  studies,  as  might  im- 
''  perceptibly  prepare  him  for  it.  And  I  am  well  enough  pleased 
"•  to  find,  that,  though  he  has  been  a  very  assiduous  student  in  all 
"  the  parts  of  learning  that  are  taught  here,  the  bent  of  his  genius 
<"  seems  to  lie  towards  theology,  classical  learning,  morality,  poetry, 
•*  and  criticism.      In  Greek,  he  has  read  Homer's  Iliad  and  Odys- 


420  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  scy,  the  Batrachomyomachia,  and  a  great  part  of  Hcsiod,  the 
"  greatest  part  of  Xenephon,  the  Phedo  of  Plato,  six  or  seven  books 
"  of  Euclid,  Arrian's  History  of  Alexander,  two  Plays  of  Sophocles, 
"  part  of  Herodotus  and  Plutarch,  of  the  Septuagint  and  NewTes- 
"  tament,  the  Ethics  and  Poetics  of  Aristotle,  Longinus,  several  of 
"  the  Odes  of  Pindar,  &:c.  Latin  he  understands  better  than  any 
"  other  person  of  his  years  I  have  ever  known  ;  he  wrote  it  pretty 
"  correctly  when  he  w^as  a  boy  ;  and,  as  1  have  sometimes  con- 
"  versed  with  him  in  that  language,  I  know  that  with  a  little  prac- 
"  tice  he  could  speak  it  easily  :  he  is  also  making  good  progress 
^'  in  the  French  tongue.  From  his  early  years  I  accustomed  him 
"  to  read  no  books  but  good  ones,  and  to  study  every  thing  he  read 
"  with  grammatical  and  critical  accuracy.  The  moral  sciences,  as 
"  far  as  I  teach  them,  he  knows  very  well ;  and,  as  he  has  a  mctho- 
"  dical  head  and  ready  elocution,  I  flatter  myself  a  little  practice 
"  would  make  him  a  good  teacher.  Specimens  of  his  composition, 
"  both  Latin  and  English,  both  verse  and  prose,  shall  be  laid  before 
^'  the  college,  if  they  desire  it. 

^'  To  all  this  it  may  not  perhaps  be  impertinent  to  add,  that  as 
"  he  has  passed  part  of  several  summers  in  Edinburgh,  and  two  in 
"  London  and  other  parts  of  England,  and  visited  wherever  I  visited, 
<'  he  may  be  supposed  to  have  seen  a  little  of  the  world  ;  of  which, 
"  though  he  is  rather  silent  in  company,  I  find  he  has  been  no  in- 
"  accurate  observer. 

"  If  the  college  agree  to  recommend  him  to  his  Majesty,  as  a 
"  person  fit  to  be  appointed  my  assistant  and  successor,  I  would 
"  farther  request,  that  it  may  be  done  as  soon  as  possible.  This, 
"  I  think,  would  be  an  advantage  to  the  college,  as  well  as  to  him  and 
"  me.  For  if  he  were  once  sure  of  the  place,  I  would  make  him 
"  lay  other  studies  aside  for  some  time,  and  employ  himself  in  pre- 
^'  paring  a  course  of  lectures  ;  which,  as  all  my  papers  are  open  to 
"  him,  he  would  not  find  it  a  difficult  matter  to  do.  I  could  also 
"  teach  him  hpw  to  make  many  improvements  in  my  plan,  which 
"  I  have  long  had  in  view,  but  could  never  execute  for  vs^ant  of 
"  health. 

"  I  need  not  suggest  to  my  colleagues  the  propriety  of  keeping 
*'  this  aifair  secret.  Were  it  to  be  talked  of,  and  after  all  to  mis- 
"  carry,  it  would  hurt  my  son's  interest,  and  make  him  feel  the  dis- 
^'  appointment  the  more  heavily.     He  knows  nothing  of  this  appli- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  421 

"  cation  ;  nor  do  I  intend  that  he  shall  know  any  thing  of  it,  till  I 
"  see  what  the  issue  is  likely  to  be.     I  am,"  &c. 

"  To  this  letter  the  college  returned  a  very  polite  answer  to  this 
purpose  :  That  they  were  so  well  satisfied  with  my  son's  profici- 
ency and  character,  that  they  would  immediately,  notwithstanding 
his  youth,  grant  the  recommendation  I  requested,  if  it  were  not  for 
the  present  critical  state  of  the  business  of  the  union.  They  there- 
fore desired  me  to  let  the  matter  rest  a  little,  till  the  issue  of  that 
affair  could  be  more  certainly  foreseen.  In  this  I  thankfully  ac- 
quiesced. 

"  However,  that  I  might  if  possible  secure  a  majority,  in  the 
event  of  the  union  taking  place,  I  mentioned  my  scheme  to  Mr 
Professor  ****,  He  entered  very  v/armly  into  my  views,  and  men- 
tioned the  thing  in  confidence  to  Dr  ******  and  Mr  *******,  They 
were  as  favourable  as  I  could  have  expected ;  and,  though  they 
made  no  promise,  which  indeed  was  not  solicited,  they  spoke  in 
very  strong  terms  of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  the  delicacy  of 
my  conduct  with  I'espect  to  my  colleagues  and  to  them.  They 
seemed  to  think,  that  I  might  have  carried  my  point  by  a  private 
application  to  the  Crown  in  my  own  name.  This  might  perhaps 
be  true  ;  but  I  would  not  do  a  thing  so  disrespectful  to  the  Maris- 
chal  College. 

"  I  threatened  you  with  a  long  letter,  and  you  see  I  have  kept 
my  word.  But,  as  my  almanack  tells  me  that  your  terms  are  over, 
I  hope  you  will  excuse  me.  You  are  interested  in  this  business  in 
more  respects  than  one  ;  for  I  took  the  liberty  some  time  ago  to 
execute  a  deed,  in  which  you  and  Sir  William  Forbes,  and  some 
other  gentlemen,  are  named  the  guardians  of  my  two  boys  ;  as  I 
thhik  I  told  you  before." 

LETTER  CXCVIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MISS  VALENTINE. 

London,  20tli  July,  IfSr. 

"  I  AM  just  returned  from  Windsor,  where  I  passed  three 
days.     I  went  thither,  partly  to  see  some  friends,  but  chiefly  that 


432  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

I  might  pay  tny  respects  to  the  King  and  Queen.  They  both  re- 
ceived me  in  the  most  gracious  manner.  I  saw  the  King  first  on 
the  Terrace,  where  he  knew  me  at  first  siglit,  and  did  me  the  ho- 
nour to  converse  Avith  me  a  considerable  time.  Next  morning 
1  saw  him  again  at  prayers  in  his  chapel,  where  he  was  pleased  to 
introduce  me  to  the  Queen,  who  inquired  very  kindly  after  my 
health ;  observed,  that  many  years  had  passed  since  she  saw  me 
last ;  regretted  the  bad  weather  which  I  had  met  with  at  Windsor, 
(for  it  rained  incessantly)  which,  said  she,  has  made  your  friends 
see  less  of  you  than  they  wished ;  and,  after  some  other  conversa- 
tion, her  Majesty  and  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  who  attended  her, 
made  a  slight  curtsey,  and  stepped  into  the  carriage  that  waited  for 
tliem  at  the  chapel-door.  The  King  remained  with  us  for  some 
time  longer,  and  talked  of  various  matters,  particularly  the  union 
of  the  colleges.  He  asked  whether  I  was  for  or  against  it.  I  told 
him  I  was  a  friend  to  the.-union.  But  Lord  Kinnouil,  soid  he,  is 
violent  against  ir  (this,  by  the  bye,  I  did  not  know  before).  The 
King  spoke  jocularly  of  my  having  become  fat :  I  remember  the 
time,  said,  he,  when  you  were  as  lean  as  Dr  ****  there,  point- 
ing to  a  gentleman  who  was  standing  by.  You  look  very  well,  (said 
his  Majesty  to  me)  and  I  am  convinced  you  are  well,  if  you  would 
only  think  so  :  do,  Dr  Hebei'den,  said  the  King,  convince  Dr  Beat- 
tie  that  he  is  in  perfect  health.  (Dr  Pleberden  was  also  standing 
by).  I  have  been  endeavouring,  Sir,  returned  the  Doctor,  to  do  so. 
After  two  such  attestations  of  my  health,  as  those  of  the  King  and 
Dr  Heberden,  1  suppose  I  need  not  say  more  on  that  subject.  The 
truth  is,  I  am  better  than  I  was.  The  giddiness  has  not  troubled 
me  but  one  day  since  I  came  to  London. 

"  At  Windsor  I  met  with  several  other  friends,  particularly 
Lady  Pembroke,  Mrs  Delany,  Mr  and  Mrs  De  Luc  ;  and  I  was 
often  with  the  famous  Miss  Burney,  (author  of  "  Cecilia")  who  has 
got  an  office  in  the  Queen's  household,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  young  women  I  have  met  with  ;  has  great  vivacity,  join- 
ed Avith  a  most  unassuming  gentleness  and  simplicity  of  manners. 

"  I  passed  an  afternoon  a  few  days  ago  with  Lord  Rodney.  I 
was  very  glad  to  meet  with  that  celebrated  veteran,  and  much 
pleased  with  his  conversation.  He  is  of  the  middle  size,  rather 
lean,  has  handsome  features  for  an  old  man,  piercing  blue  eyes, 
and  is  very  well  bred." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  433 


LETTER  CXCVIII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

'  Hunton,  near  Maidstone,  Tth  August,  1787. 

t<  I  CAME  to  Hunton  the  28th  of  last  month.  Of  the  scenery 
laf  that  beautiful  place  I  need  say  nothing  to  you,  who  are  well  ac- 
quainted with  it.  Every  thing  is  so  exactly  the  same  that  it  was, 
and  my  memory  of  every  thing  is  so  accurate,  that  the  three  years, 
which  have  intervened  since  I  was  last  here,  seem  to  have  dwindled 
into  as  many  days.  The  Bishop  and  Mrs  Porteus  are  perfectly 
well,  and  desire  their  best  respects  to  Lady  Forbes  and  you. 

"  Last  week  we  had  a  visit  from  a  gentleman,  (Mr  Boissier)  ia 
whose  history  there  are  some  particulars,  which  I  think  will  enter- 
tain you.  He  is  a  man  of  fortune,  and  of  a  French  family,  about 
fifty  years  of  age  ;  was  born  in  England  and  commonly  resides  at 
Bath,  but  has  passed  a  great  part  of  his  time  abroad,  where  it  is  evi- 
dent that  he  has  kept  the  very  best  company.  He  speaks  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  Fi'ench,  and  is  well  conversant  in  literature  ;  and  has 
so  much  of  the  French  vivacity,  that  if  he  had  not  spoken  English 
with  the  propriety  of  a  native,  I  should  have  taken  him  for  a 
Frenchman.  As  Moses  was  trained  up  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians,  it  was  this  gentleman's  chance  to  be  educated  in  all  the 
folly  of  French  philosophy  :  he  was  indeed  an  avowed,  nay  a  bare- 
faced, infidel.  In  this  temper  of  mind  he  went  to  hear  the  Bishop 
of  Chester  preach  at  Bath,  about  two  years  ago.  The  text  was, 
"  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God."  He  was  so  much  struck  with 
the  Bishop's  eloquence  and  reasoning,  that  he  made  no  scruple  to 
declare  to  his  friends,  that  his  mind  was  changed,  and  that  he  was 
determined  to  study  the  Christian  religion  with  candour,  and  with- 
out delay.  An  acquaintance  soon  took  place  between  the  Bishop 
and  him,  and  they  were  mutually  pleased  with  each  other.  Books 
were  put  into  his  hands-,  and  among  others  my  little  book.*     To 

•  "  Evidences  ofthe  Christian  Relij^ion,  briefly  and  plainly  stated."  See 
p,4-G4. 


424  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

shorten  my  story  he  is  now  a  sincere  Christian  ;  and  is  just  goln;^ 
to  publish  a  "  Vindication  of  Christianity,"  which  he  has  translated 
from  the  French  of  Mons.  Bonnet.  This  work  I  have  seen,  and 
think  very  highly  of  it,  as  I  do  of  the  author  and  translator,  Avho  is 
truly  a  very  agreeable,  sensible,  well-bred,  man.  The  sermon 
which,  by  the  providence  of  (lod,  was  the  cause  of  this  conversion, 
the  Bishop,  at  my  desire,  preached  to  us  last  Sunday.  I  never  in 
my  life  heard  more  animated  eloquence,  or  a  more  forcible  piece 
of  argumentation  i  and  the  Bishop  exceeded  himself  in  the  delivery 
^fit."* 


In  addition  to  the  accumulated  evils  with  which  Dr  Beatlic; 
had  been  long  afflicted,  of  his  own  bad  health,  and  the  total  subver- 
sion of  his  domestic  happiness,  arising  from  his  wife's  incurable 
malady,  he  was  soon  to  experience  another  and  a  most  weighty 
domestic  calamity,  in  the  loss  of  his  eldest  son,  of  the  commence- 
ment of  whose  illness,  which  at  last  brought  him  to  the  grave,  his 
father  gives  the  following  affecting  account. 


LETTER  CXCIX. 


PR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU, 


Aberdeen,  17th  November,  l7S7. 

"  AFTER  having  been  for  so  many  months  a  wanderer,  I 
am  at  last  become  stationary,  and  sit  down  to  give  a  brief  account 
of  what  has  befallen  me  since  I  tore  myself  away  from  Sandleford. 
The  chief  reason  of  my  leaving,  so  soon  as  I  did,  that  delightful 
place,  and  still  more  delightful  society,  was,  though  I  did  not  then 
mention  it,  the  state  of  my  son's  health.  He  had  at  that  lime 
symptoms  of  approaching  illness,  particularly  an  unconquerable 

•  The  discourse  here  mentioned  is  the  14th  in  the  second  volume  of  the 
Bishop  of  London's  •<  Sermons.'' 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  425 

sensation  of  cold  in  his  hands  and  feet ;  which  made  me  anxious 
to  put  him,  as  soon  as  possible,  under  the  care  of  my  medical  friends 
in  London.  He  was  taken  ill,  as  I  expected,  first  more  slightly, 
and  afterwards  with  such  violence,  and  so  many  alarming  appear- 
ances, that  for  several  days  he  seemed  to  be  in  great  danger.  My 
friend,  Dr  Lettsom,  attended  him  with  his  usual  humanity  ;  and, 
as  soon  as  he  thought  it  safe  to  remove  from  London,  advised  me 
to  begin  my  journey.  We  travelled  very  slowly,  and  had  every 
advantage  that  could  be  derived  from  good  roads  and  good  weather  ; 
but,  though  he  bore  the  motion  of  the  carriage  well  enough,  he 
continued  to  be  so  weak,  that  I  was  often  at  a  loss  to  detei^mine 
whether  I  should  proceed  or  stop.  He  himself  wished  to  get  for- 
ward, especially  to  get  to  Morpeth,  where  Dr  Keith  lives,  a  parti- 
cular friend  of  ours,  of  whose  affectionate  temper  and  medical 
abilities  we  both  have  the  highest  opinion.  At  Morpeth  we  arrived 
at  last,  and  were  so  lucky  as  to  find  our  friend  at  home,  who  ordered 
something  which  did  much  good  ;  but  the  weakness  still  continued, 
and  the  disorder  appeared  to  be  only  alleviated,  but  by  no  mieans, 
removed.  At  Edinburgh,  where  we  rested  ten  days,  I  was  advised 
to  take  him  to  Peterhead,  which  I  did  accordingly  ;  and  the  air  and 
mineral-water  of  that  place  had  so  good  an  effect,  that,  by  the  end 
of  October,  when  Ave  were  obliged  to  return  home,  I  thought  him, 
and  he  thought  himself,  perfectly  recovered.  He  has  been  regu- 
larly inducted  into  his  new  office  :  but  I  do  not  intend  that  he  shall 
have  any  thing  to  do  this  year,  but  to  amuse  himself,  and  recovef 
strength  ;  as  I  find  myself  well  enough  to  manage  all  the  business 
without  difficulty.  Indeed  I  have  now  better  health  than  I  remem- 
ber to  have  enjoyed  for  some  years.  And  it  would  be  strange  if 
it  were  otherwise,  considering  the  very  great  attention  and  kindness 
which  I  met  with  at  Sandleford  and  Hunton  ;  and,  since  my  return 
to  the  North,  at  Gordon  Castle,  where  I  made  a  visit  of  three  weeks, 
while  my  son  was  at  Peterhead.  The  Dutchess  desired  me  to 
present  to  you  her  best  respects  ;  which,  however,  I  presume  her 
Grace  will  deliver  in  person,  as  she  is  now  on  her  way  to  London, 
where  she  means  to  pass  the  winter. 

"  At  Peterhead  I  gave  Mrs  Arbuthnot  the  money  which  you 
committed  to  my  care,  and  I  was  happy  to  find  her  wonderfully 
well,  considering  her  great  age.  I  need  not  tell  you  with  what 
gratitude    she  acknowledged  your  bounty,    nor    how  anxiously 


425  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

minute  she  Was  in  her  inquiries  after  your  health,  and  that  of  Mr 
and  Mrs  Montagu,  and  their  lovely  child.  She  is  naturally  of  an 
inquisitive  turn,  as  solitary  people  of  good  parts  generally  are  ;  but, 
where  l»er  heart  and  affections  are  engaged,  there  is  no  end  of  her 
interrogatories.  It  gives  me  no  little  pleasure  to  observe,  how  much 
to  the  better  her  poor  old  house  is  changed,  since  she  has  had  the 
honour  to  be  under  your  patronage.  The  roof,  which  was  entire- 
ly decayed,  has  undergone  a  thorough  repair ;  her  moth-eaten 
tables  and  chairs,  which  were  on  the  point  of  falling  to  pieces  by 
their  own  weight,  have  given  place  to  a  set  of  new  ones,  not  fine  in- 
deed, but  neat  and  substantial ;  the  smoky  roofs  of  her  few  apart- 
ments are  cleaned  and  whitewashed,  and  the  mouldiness  of  her 
walls  concealed  by  a  decent  covering  of  printed  paper.  In  her  dress 
I  perceive  little  or  no  change  ;  for  in  that  respect,  even  in  her 
worst  days,  she  always  contrived  to  appear  like  a  gentlewoman. 

"  I  learned  a  few  days  ago,  by  a  letter  from  his  Lordship,  that 
our  excellent  friend  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  is  promoted  to  the  see 
of  London.  Few  things  could  have  given  me  so  much  pleasure. 
This  is  a  station  in  which  his  great  talents  for  business,  and  for  do- 
ing good,  will  find  ample  scope  ;  yet  so  as  not  to  take  him  to  such 
a  distance  from  his  friends,  or  subject  him  to  such  bodily  fatigue,, 
as  the  duties  of  his  former  diocese  often  made  necessarv." 


LETTER  CC 


en  BEATTIE    TO  SIR  AVILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  10th  December,  178T. 

«  1  WISHED  to  have  written  to  you  by  Mr  ******,  but  when 
he  was  here  I  was  ill.  My  son  on  that  occasion  took  upon  him,  for 
the  first  time,  the  management  of  the  class,  and  acquitted  himself 
not  only  to  my  satisfaction  and  theirs,  but  also  to  his  own.  It- was 
not  my  intention  that  he  shoidd  appear  in  his  new  character  till 
next  winter  ;  but  I  am  glad  he  has  had  this  trial,  as  it  has  satisfied 
him  that  he  is  equal  to  his  business.  However,  I  do  not  mean  that 
he  shall  either  assisf  or  succeed  me,  as  long  as  I  can  prevent  it.  He 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  42r 

IS  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  concern  about  him,  and  de- 
sires to  offer  his  humble  service.  His  health  was  improved  by 
Peterhead  ;  but  he  is  not  robust,  and  I  am  obliged  to  exert  my 
authority  in  moderating  his  application  to  study. 

"  Every  body  must  approve  greatly  of  your  sending  Mr  Forbes 
abroad,  previously  to  his  entering  on  business.  Next  to  a  good 
conscience,  nothing  tends  more  to  the  happiness  of  life,  than  habits 
of  activity  and  industry  begun  in  early  youth,  so  as  to  settle  into  a 
permanent  disposition  before  one  arrives  at  manhood :  and  I  never 
see,  without  pity,  a  young  man  of  fortune  who  is  bred  to  no  busi- 
ness. 

"  The  friends  you  inquire  after,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Mr 
Langton,  £cc.  were  all  well  when  I  left  London  ;  but  I  did  not  this 
year  see  so  much  of  them  as  usual,  as  my  health  would  not  permit 
me  to  be  much  in  town.  I  regret  exceedingly  my  not  having  had 
an  opportunity  to  pay  my  respects  to  Miss  Bowdler. 

"  The  passage  in  the  "  Lounger,"  to  which  she  objects,  seems 
to  me  to  be  not  very  accurate  ;  and  I  am  not  sure  that  I  under- 
stand it.  There  are  men,  and  those  too  of  masculine  minds,  who 
prefer  Virgil  to  Homer  ;  Mr  Burke  is  one  :  and  there  are  others 
Avho  prefer  Metastasio  to  Shakespeare,  and  Tasso  to  Milton. 
Johnson  told  me  he  never  read  Milton  through,  till  he  read  him 
in  order  to  gather  words  for  his  "  Dictionary  ;"  and  though  he 
has  spoken  civilly  of  him  in  his  "  Lives,"  it  is  well  kiiown  that  he 
did  not  do  so  in  conversation.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  known 
women,  whose  sentiments  were  the  same  with  mine,  and  I  suppose 
with  the  "  Lounger's"  in  regard  to  those  great  authors ;  and  who, 
for  all  that,  had  minds  as  delicate,  and  as  truly  feminine,  as  any  of 
their  sex.  Few  women  have  the  means  of  judging  with  precision 
of  the  comparative  merit  of  Virgil  and  Homer;  for,  in  order  to  do 
that,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  throw  all  translations  aside,  and 
read  them  in  their  own  language.  Pope's  translation  is  a  hery 
pleasing  poem,  and  I  believe  a  great  favourite  with  the  fair  sex ; 
l)Ut  has  nothing  of  Homer  but  the  story  and  the  characters,  the 
manner  being  totally  different:  Dryden's  "  Virgil"  is  not  a  very 
pleasing  book,  and  conveys  not  any  tolerable  idea  of  the  original ; 
of  whose  tenderness,  pathos,  and  delicacy,  and  uniform  majesty  of 
expression  and  numbers,  Dryden  had  no  just  relish,  and  whose  lan- 
guage he  did  not  understand  so  perfectly  as  he  ought  to  have  done, 


428  LIFE:.OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  Of  the  superiority  of  male  to  female  minds,  much  has  been 
said  and  written,  but  perhaps  in  too  general  terms.  In  what  re- 
lates to  the  peculiar  business  and  duty  of  either  sex,  the  genius  of 
that  sex  will,  I  believe,  be  found  to  have  the  superiority.  A  man, 
though  he'  could  suckle,  would  not  make  so  good  a  nurse  as  a  wo- 
man ;  and  though  the  woman  were  in  bodily  strength  equal  to  the 
man,  there  are  in  her  constitution  many  things  which  would  make 
her  less  fit,  than  he  is,  for  what  may  be  called  the  external  econo- 
my of  a  family.  Matters  of  learning,  taste,  and  science,  are  not 
more  the  natural  pi'ovince  of  the  one  sex  than  of  the  other  ;  and, 
with  regard  to  these,  were  they  to  have  the  same  education  and  op- 
portunities, the  minds  of  the  two  sexes  would  be  found  to  approach 
more  nearly  to  equality.  The  same  education^  however,  they  can- 
not have,  because  each  must  be  trained  up  for  its  ovm  Jieculiar  busi- 
ness ;  nor  the  same  o/iporiicnities,  because  many  scenes  of  observa- 
tion are  open  to  men,  fromi  which  women  are,  by  their  reserve  and 
modesty,  excluded,  and  some  open  to  women,  to  which  men  are, 
with  great  propriety,  though  for  a  different  reason,  denied  admit- 
tance. If  one  were  to  enter  into  the  detail  of  all  these  particulars,  I 
imagine  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  say,  what  sorts  of  writing  and 
parts  of  learning  the  two  sexes  might  cultivate  with  equal  success, 
and  in  what  women  would  be  superior  to  men,  and  men  sujierior  to 
women  ;  and  the  inferences,  as  they  occur  to  me  at  present,  would, 
if  I  mistake  not,  receive  confirmation  from  the  history  of  litera^ 
ture." 


LETTER  CCL 


OR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  AVILLIAM  FORBES. 


Aberdeen,  5th  March,  1788. 

*'  I  SCARCE  remember  when  my  attention  was  so  much  en- 
grossed by  a  number  of  little  matters,  as  it  has  been  for  the  last  two 
months.  This  must  be  my  apology  for  not  sooner  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  your  very  kind  and  affecting  letter.  After  what  Dr 
Hay  told  me  last  summer,  I  had  no  hopes  of  your  son's  reeovery  ; 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  429 

but  the  account  of  his  death  gave  me  pain,  as  I  well  knew  what 
Lady  Forbes  and  you  would  suffer  on  that  occasion.  You  have 
been  tried  with  many  severe  afflictions  of  the  same  kind  ;  but  have 
borne  them  as  became  you  ;  so  that  they  will,  in  their  consequen- 
ces, prove  matter  of  everlasting  triumph. 

"  It  is  with  great  pleasure  I  see  your  name  in  the  newspapers, 
subjoined  to  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons  in  behalf  of  the 
poor  negroes.  The  society,  to  which  I  belong,  resolved  some  time 
ago  to  present  a  similar  petition,  but  the  thing  is  delayed  till  we 
hear  from  our  chancellor  on  the  subject ;  and  he  is  now  very  in- 
fii'm,  so  that  I  fear  we  shall  be  too  late  in  our  application.  I  wrote 
a  "  Discourse  on  Slavery,"  particularly  that  of  the  negroes,  about 
ten  years  ago,  and  had  thoughts  lately  of  revising  and  publishing  it. 
So  much  Avas  I  in  earnest,  that  I  had  actually  transcribed  about  a 
fourth  part  of  it ;  when,  having  occasion  to  consult  some  authori- 
ties, which  were  not  at  hand,  I  foresaw,  that,  let  me  be  ever  so  dili- 
gent, the  fate  of  Mr.  Wilberforce's  intended  motion  on  this  subject, 
would,  in  all  probability,  be  determined  before  my  little  book  could 
be  got  ready  ;  and  so  I  dropped  the  scheme,  at  least  for  the  present : 
which  I  have  the  less  reason  to  regret,  as  I  had  little  to  say  which 
has  not  been  said  by  others,  who  may  be  thought  to  have  had  bet- 
ter means  of  information.  I  earnestly  pray,  that  our  legislature 
may  have  the  gi^ace  to  do  something  effectual  in  this  business,  so  as 
to  clear  the  British  character  of  a  stain,  which  is  indeed  of  the 
blackest  die.  The  freest  nation  and  best  natured  people  on  earth, 
are,  as  matters  now  stand,  the  patrons  of  slavery,  and  of  a  slavery 
more  severe  than  is  warranted  by  the  laws  of  France  or  Spain,  or 
of  any  other  country  in  Europe.  What  an  inconsistency  is  this  ! 
and  what  a  reproach  1  I  am  not,  however,  one  of  those  who  think, 
that  our  negroes  ought  immediately  to  be  made  free.  That  would 
be  dangerous,  and  is,  I  fear,  impracticable.  But  to  mitigate  in  the 
mean  time  the  horrors  of  their  slavery,  and  to  prepare  matters  for 
a  gradual  abolition  of  it,  seems  to  me  to  be  neither  dangerous  nor 
difficult. 

"  I  have  been  looking  into  Dr  Reid's  book  on  "  The  Active 
Powers  of  Man."  It  is  written  with  his  usual  perspicuity  and 
acuteness ;  is  in  some  parts  very  entertaining ;  and  to  me,  who 
have  been  obliged  to  think  so  much  on  those  subjects,  is  very  in- 
teresting throughout.     The  question  concerning  Liberty  and  Ne- 


430  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

cessity  is  very  fully  discussed,  and  very  ably  ;  and,  1  ihink,  no- 
thing more  needs  be  said  about  it.  I  could  have  wished  that  Dr  Reid 
had  given  a  fuller  enumeration  of  the  passions,  and  been  a  little 
more  particular  in  illustrating  the  duties  of  morality.  But  his  man- 
ner is,  in  all  his  writings,  more  turned  to  speculation  than  to  prac- 
tical philosophy  ;  which  may  be  owing  to  his  having  employed 
himself  so  much  in  the  study  of  Locke,  Hume,  Berkeley,  and 
other  theorists  ;  and  partly,  no  doubt,  to  the  habits  of  study  and 
modes  of  conversation  which  were  fashionable  in  this  country  in 
his  younger  days.  If  I  were  not  personally  acquainted  with  the 
Doctor,  I  should  conclude,  from  his  books,  that  he  was  rather  too 
warm  an  admirer  of  Mr.  Hume.  He  confutes,  it  is  true,  some  of 
his  opinions ;  but  pays  them  much  more  respect  than  they  are  en- 
titled to. 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you,  that  we  have  heard  from 
our  chancellor,  who  approves  highly  of  our  declaring  our  senti- 
ments with  respect  to  the  slave-trade,  in  a  petition  to  the  House 
of  Commons.  No  time  was  lost.  I  had  prepared  the  petition ; 
which  was  instantly  signed,  and  sent  off  by  last  post. 

"  Mr  Boissier*  has  published  his  "  Translation  of  M.  Bonnet's 
Inquiries  concerning  Christianity,"  and  has  done  me  the  honour 
to  send  me  a  copy  ;  which  I  shall  read  as  soon  as  1  can  command 
a  day's  leisure.  In  his  preface  he  mentions  Bishop  Porteus  as  the 
first,  "  who  traced  out  to  him  the  road  which  leads  to  truth."  Fi'om 
what  1  have  seen  of  this  book,  I  should  be  apprehensive  that  the 
author's  manner  is  ratlier  abrupt,  and  too  abstruse  to  be  popular, 
at  least  in  this  country.  However,  the  world  is  under  obligations 
to  him,  and  to  his  worthy  translator,  for  declaring  themselves  in  so 
explicit  a  manner  the  friends  of  religion  ;  and  as  M.  Bonnet's  cha- 
racter is  very  high  in  France,  I  hope  his  book'will  do  a  great  deal 
of  good. 

"  At  my  spare  hours,  which  have  been  very  few  this  winter,  I 
am  preparing  to  do,  what,  if  circumstances  had  permitted,  I  ought 
to  have  done  long  ago,  to  print  an  abridgment,  a  very  brief  one, 
of  my  lectures  on  moral  philosophy  and  logic.  It  is  intended  for 
no  other  purpose  but  to  assist  the  memory  of  those  students  who 
attend  my  class ;  and  therefore,  though  I  shall  print,  I  am  in  doubt 
whether  I  should  publish  it.     The  students,  by  paying  for  their 

*  Mentioned  in  Letter  CXCVIII. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  431 

cbpies,  win  in  time  indemnify  me  for  print  and  paper,  wliich  is  all 
I  shall  ask  in  the  pecuniary  way.  Notwithstanding  all  my  care  to 
be  concise,  I  find  it  will  extend  to  two  octavos  ;  the  first  of  which 
will  contain,  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science,"  and  the  second, 
"  Elements  of  Logic."  Under  Logic  I  comprehend,  not  only  the 
philosophy  of  evidence,  but  likewise  every  thing  that  relates  to  lan- 
guage, composition,  and  criticism.  Hitherto  it  has  been  my  way, 
as  it  was  that  of  my  predecessor,  to  make  the  students  take  down  in 
writing  an  abstract  of  the  lectures  and  conversations  ;  and  this  me- 
thod is  not  without  its  advantages  ;  but  such  abstracts,  being  writ- 
ten in  great  haste,  were  not  always  correct,  and  took  up  a  good  deal 
of  time.  The  time,  which  I  shall  save  by  using  a  printed  text  book, 
.1  intend  to  employ  in  commenting  upon  classic  authors,  and  other 
profitable  exercises*. 

"  You  will  be  glad  to  hear,  that  Sunday-schools  are  likely  to  do 
good  here.  Eight  have  been  set  a-going,  and  are  supported  by  sub- 
scription. 

"  My  son  desires  his  best  respects.  My  cough  has  obliged  me 
to  employ  him  more  frequently,  in  the  morning  meeting  at  eight, 
than  I  wished  to  do  :  but  he  likes  the  business,  and  has  now  had 
experience  ol  almost  all  the  varieties  of  it.  He  has  also  been  com- 
posing some  lectures,  one  of  which,  accompanied  with  a  model  in 
pasteboard,  is  an  account  of  Raymond  Lully's  mill  for  making 
books,  alluded  to  by  Dr  Campbell  in  the  "  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric." 
He  got  Raymond's  book  in  tjie  college  library,  and  made  the  mill 
exactly  according  to  the  author's  directions." 

LETTER  CCIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Peterhead,  3d  May,  17SS. 

"  THE  book  I  have  in  view  will  not  be  a  mere  syllabus,  like 
the  pamphlet  which  Dr  Blair  published  ;  nor  a  collection  of  apho- 
risms>  like  Dr  Ferguson's  "  Institutes  :"  in  its  plan  it  will  more 

*  Tills  abridgment  of  Iiis  lectiu-es,  Dr  Beattie  did  publish,  under  tlie 
title  of  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science;"  the  first  vob.ime  :n  the  year  I7'?(h 
the  second  volume  in  the  vear  179'^. 


43.2  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

resemble  Dr  James  Gregory's  "  Consfiectiis  Medicinx  Theorelica ,-" 
only  it  will  be  in  English.  If  I  live  to  execute  my  purpose,  it  will 
comprehend  the  substance  of  all  my  lectures  and  conversations,  (for 
I  often  teach  in  the  Socratic  method,  by  question  and  answer,)  with 
the  omission  of  such  illustrations,  facts,  and  reasonings  only,  as 
cannot  be  expressed  in  few  words.  The  first  volume  will  contain, 
the  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind  ;  Principles  of  Natural  Reli- 
gion ;  Moral  Philosophy  ;  and  Politics  :  and  the  second.  Logic, 
or  the  Philosophy  of  Evidence  ;  and  Rhetoric,  or  the  Belles  Let- 
tres.  About  one  hundred  and  forty  large  quarto  pages  of  the  first 
volume  are  written  ;  and  I  hope,  if  my  health  does  not  prevent  me, 
to  have  it  in  the  press  before  the  end  of  the  year. 

"  The  same  post,  that  brought  your  last  most  agreeable  favour, 
brought  also  a  letter,  with  two  pamphlets,  from  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, The  Bishop  is  very  urgent  with  me,  as  you  are,  to  publish 
my  papers  on  the  slave-trade.  He  says  they  will  come  in  good 
season  if  they  appear  before  the  next  session  of  parliament,  for  that 
nothing  in  that  business  will  be  done  this  session.  The  Privy- 
Council,  he  says,  have  been  at  uncommon  pains  to  ascertain  the 
exact  nature  of  the  African  slave-trade,  and  the  state  of  the  slaves 
in  our  West  India  islands.  His  Lordship  also  Avishes  me  to  sub- 
join, as  an  appendix  to  my  papers,  an  examination  of  an  extraordi- 
nary pamphlet,  which  has  just  appeared,  to  prove  the  lawfulness, 
or,  as  the  author  calls  it,  the  Ucitness  of  the  slave-trade,  from  the 
scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  This  pamphlet  he  has 
sent  me,  but  I  have  not  yet  got  time  to  read  it.  It  is  the  work  of 
a  Spanish  Jesuit  of  the  name  of  Harris,  who  it  seems  is  connected 
with  the  slave-merchants  of  Liverpool,  by  whose  means  he  hopes 
to  obtain  preferment  in  the  church  of  England,  to  which  he  is  wil- 
ling to  conform  :  his  pamphlet  is  dedicated  to  the  Mayor,  Alder- 
men, Sec.  of  Liverpool.  The  slave-dealers  exult  in  this  champion, 
and  say  that  his  work  is  unanswerable  ;  but  the  Bishop  of  London 
says  it  is  mere  Jesuitical  sophistry.  From  what  I  have  seen  of  it, 
I  should  think  it  an  easy  matter  to  answer  it ;  but  whether  I  shall 
be  able  to  do  this,  I  know  not.  My  health  is  a  great  hindrance  to 
all  my  projects. 

"  The  other  pamphlet  which  the  Bishop  sent  me,  is  a  "  Pasto- 
ral Letter  to  the  English  Clergy  in  the  West  Indies,"  who  are  all, 
it  seems,  subject  to  his  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.     It  is  short,  but 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  433 

very  elegant,  and  very  like  himself  and  his  station.  It  relates 
chiefly  to  two  things,  the  conversion  and  education  of  the  negroes, 
which  he  earnestly  and  powerfully  recommends  ;  and  the  qualifica- 
tions which  he  insists  on  finding  in  all  those  West  Indians  who  may 
apply  to  him  for  holy  orders.  My  little  book  of  "  Evidences"  i# 
one  of  those  which  his  Lordship  is  pleased  to  recommend  to  their 
attention." 


LETTER  CCIIL 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Peterhead,  28th  June,  178S. 

"  MY  papers  on  the  slave-trade  would  now  appear  too  late. 
The  legislature  seems  to  have  engaged  in  an  investigation  of  that 
business  with  a  generous  alacrity,  which  does  them  infinite  honour, 
and  will  undoubtedly  bring  on  such  regulations,  as  would  make  my 
zeal  and  my  arguments  both  unnecessary  and  unseasonable.  In 
fact,  several  of  those  abuses,  which  I  had  attacked  with  most  seve- 
rity, are  already  in  part  redressed,  or  in  a  fair  way  of  being  so ; 
particularly  the  horrid  cruelties  perpetrated  upon  the  poor  negroes 
in  their  passage  across  the  Atlantic,  and  the  cruel  laws  to  which 
they  are  subjected  in  some  of  the  West  Indian  islands,  particularly 
Barbadoes  and  Jamaica.  If  one  may  believe  the  newspapers,  con- 
siderable reformations  have  already  taken  place  in  both  those 
islands,  as  well  as  in  North  America.  As  to  the  final  abolition  of 
the  traffic,  I  pray  for  it  as  earnestly  as  any  body  ;  but  I  do  not  think 
it  can  be  accomplished  soon,  though  in  a  few  years  it  may,  and  I 
trust  it  will.  Much  good  might  be  done  in  the  meantime,  if  plant- 
ers could  be  prevailed  on  to  repose  less  confidence  in  overseers  ;  to 
give  liberty  and  wages  to  their  most  deserving  slaves ;  to  give 
Christian  education  to  them  all,  with  rest  on  Sunday  ;  to  teach 
them  to  be  rational,  by  treating  them  as  rational  beings ;  and  to 
mitigate  the  cruelty  of  punishment,  and  the  severity  of  labour.  I 
fim  truly  sorry  to  hear  of  Mr  Wilberforce's  indisposition.  It  is 
very  good  in  Mr  and  Mrs  Montagu  to  interest  themselves  so  mucji 
in  his  behalf:  I  hope  their  kind  assiduities  will  be  successful. 


=f34  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  I  hope  my  venerable  friend,  Mrs  Dclany,  is  alive  and  well. 
I  am  extremely  anxious  to  hear  of  her  ;  having  seen  the  other  day 
in  a  newspaper,  the  words,  "  the  late  Mrs  Delany  ;"  which  I  would 
fain  believe  to  be  a  newspaper  blunder,  as  I  have  never  heard  of  her 
death,  or  even  that  she  was  ill.  I  saw  her  frequently  at  Windsor 
last  year,  and  was  happy  to  observe  no  symptoms  of  decline.  A 
very  great  person  was  pleased  to  joke  with  her  on  my  account. 
"  Where  have  you  been  these  two  days,  Mrs  D.f"  said  he,  "  but 
"  I  can  guess  ;  I  warrant  you  have  had  more  than  one  assignation 
"  with  Dr  B.  since  he  has  been  at  Windsor."  "  Indeed,  Sir," 
replied  she,  "  Y.  M.  is  right ;  Dr  B.  has  been  with  me  several 
times." 


LETTER  CCIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  DR  PORTEUS,  BISHOP  OF  LONDON. 

Peterhead,  Sd  July,  ir88. 

"  AS  soon  as  it  is  in  my  power  I  shall  give  the  Rev.  Mr 
'Harris*  a  fair  hearing,  and  let  your  Lordship  know  my  opinion. 
I  have  seen  a  little  of  him,  and  think  him  a  tolerable  sophister. 
His  arguments  might  pass,  for  argument's  sake,  in  a  school-dispu- 
tation upon  a  thesis ;  but  can  have  no  influence  upon  a  candid  and 
rational  mind,  except  perhaps  to  provoke  indignation  :  for  the 
matter  is  too  solemn  for  laughter.  He  pretends  to  piety,  reverence 
of  the  Scripture,  and  zeal  for  the  rights  of  humanity  ;  and  all  the 
while  he  is  labouring  to  pervert  Scripture,  in  order  to  vindicate 
one  of  the  most  impious  and  inhuman  practices  that  ever  disgraced 
the  sublunary  creation.  He,  good  man  !  would  not  for  the  world 
offer  an  apology  for  any  injustice,  oppression,  or  cruelty,  that  may 
have  been  pi'actised  by  dealers  in  slaves  ;  he  would  only  justify 
what  he  calls  "  the  African  slave-trade  in  the  abstract."  I  know 
not  whether  I  understand  this.  But,  if  he  will  remove  all  oppres- 
sion, cruelty,  and  injustice,  from  that  trade,  I  promise  him  I  shall 

*  Who  wrote  a  book  to  prove  the  slave-trade  agreeable  to  reason  an4 
Scripture.     See  Letter  CCII.  to  Sir  Willium  Forbe^i,  p.  431. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  435- 

Hot  object  to  his  abstract  notions  :  the  trade  will  then  be  a  mere 
idea  ;  as  harmless  as  those  now  are,  to  which  we  give  the  names  of 
ostracism,  crusade,  &c. ;  and  will  no  more  make  negroes  miserable, 
and  slave-mongers  cruel,  than  the  second  book  of  the  "  ^neid" 
will  burn  their  towns.  The  misfortune  is,  that  from  this  vile  traffic, 
oppression,  injustice,  and  cruelty,  are  inseparable.  These  crimes 
have,  from  the  beginning  of  it,  formed  its  basis,  and  without  theni 
it  can  no  more  subsist,  than  a  house  without  a  foundation.  "  If 
"  you  have  any  music  that  makes  no  noise,"  says  a  clown  in 
Shakespeare  to  a  company  of  fiddlers,  "  pray  let  us  have  it ;  but  we 
"  cannot  endure  any  other."  So  say  I  to  Mr  Harris.  If  you  caa 
give  us  an  African  slave-trade,  that  has  nothing  cruel,  oppressive, 
or  unjust  in  it,  with  all  my  heart ;  let  it  be  set  a-going  as  soon  as 
possible.  To  such  a  trade  the  British  legislature  will  have  no 
objection  ;  and  I  trust  they  will  never  tolerate  any  other.  They 
have  entered  into  this  business  with  a  generous  alacrity,  that 
does  them  infinite  honour  ;  and  will  soon,  I  hope,  make  such  regu- 
lations as  will  render  my  zeal  and  my  arguments  unnecessary,  and 
even  unseasonable." 


LETTER  CCV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBfeS. 


Peterhead,  10th  July,  irSS. 

"  I  AlVI  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  quotation  from  Mrs 
Piozzi's  letters,  and  to  that  lady  for  speaking  of  m,e  with  so  much 
kindness.*  I  was  inti"oduced  to  her  and  Mr  Thrale  by  Dr  Johnson, 
and  received  many  and  great  civilities  from  both.  Mr  Thrale  was 
a  most  respectable  character ;  intelligent,  modest,  communicative, 

*  The  paragraph  in  question  is  as  follows  :  "  Dr  Beattie  is  as  charming- as 
''  ever.  *****  Every  body  rejoices  that  the  Doctor  will  get  his  pension. 
"  Every  one  loves  him  but  Goldsmitli,  who  says  he  cannot  bear  the  sight  of 
*'  so  much  applause  as  we  all  bestow  upon  him.  Did  he  not  tell  us  so  him- 
•'  self,  who  would  believe  he  was  so  exceedingly  ill-natured ?"f 

t  "  Mrs  Piozzi  and  Dr  JoUnson's  Letters,"  VoL  I.  p-  ISff. 


436  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

and  friendly  :  and  I  greatly  admired  his  wife  for  her  vivacity,  learn- 
ing, affability,  and  beauty  :  I  thought  her  indeed  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  women  I  ever  saw  ;  and  could  not  have  imagined  her 
capable  of  acting  so  unwise  a  part  as  she  afterwards  did. 

"  What  she  says  of  Goldsmith  is  perfectly  true.  He  was  a 
poor  fretful  creature,  eaten  up  with  afi'ectation  and  envy.  He  was 
the  only  person  I  ever  knew  who  acknowledged  himself  to  be 
envious.  In  Johnson's  presence  he  was  quiet  enough  ;  but  in  his 
absence  expressed  great  uneasiness  in  hearing  him  praised.  He 
envied  even  the  dead ;  he  could  not  bear  that  Shakespeare  should 
be  so  much  admired  as  he  is.  There  might,  however,  be  some- 
thing like  magnanimity  in  envying  Shakespeare  and  Dr  Johnson  ; 
as  in  Julius  Caesar's  weeping  to  thmk,  that  at  an  age  at  which  he 
had  done  so  little,  Alexander  should  have  done  so  much.  But 
surely  Goldsmith  had  no  occasion  to  envy  me ;  which,  however,  he 
certainly  did,  for  he  owned  it  (though  when  we  met  he  was  always 
very  civil ;)  and  I  received  undoubted  information,  that  he  seldom 
misstd  an  opportunity  of  speaking  ill  of  me  behind  my  back. 
Goldsmith's  common  conversation  was  a  strange  mixture  of 
absurdity  and  silliness  ;  of  silliness  so  great,  as  to  make  me 
sometimes  think  that  he  affected  it.  Yet  he  was  a  genius  of 
no  mean  rank :  somebody,  who  knew  him  well,  called  him  an 
inspired  idiot.  His  ballad  of  "  Edwin  and  Angelina"  is  exceedingly- 
beautiful,  and  well  conducted  ;  and  in  his  two  other  poems,  though 
there  be  "  great  inequalities,  there  is  pathos,  energy,  and  evea 
sublimity. 


LETTER  CCVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 


Aberdeen,  8th  August,  1788, 

"  IT  delights  me  to  hear  that  Loi'd  Huntly  is  to  go  to  Oxford 
or  Cambridge.  An  English  university  is  the  best  place  on  earth 
for  study  ;  and,  what  is  of  still  greater  consequence,  especially  to  a 
person  of  high  rank?  it  supplies  the  best  opportunities  of  contractinjg 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  437 

Ihose  early  connections  of  friendship,  which  one  remembers  with 
exquisite  pleasure  to  the  end  of  life  ;  and  which  often  contribute) 
more  than  any  thing  else,  to  a  great  man's  influence  and  popularity. 
Mr  Pitt,  great  as  he  is  by  hereditary  right,  and  greater  still  by  his 
own  genius  and  virtue,  would,  I  am  persuaded,  readily  acknowledge 
how  much  he  owes  to  Cambridge.  There  he  was  from  the  first  a 
general  favourite  ;  and  there  he  found  many  valuable  friends,  who, 
I  am  told,  still  adhere  to  him  with  a  fervency  of  zeal,  in  which  it  is 
difficult  to  say,  whether  admiration  or  fondness  be  the  most  power- 
ful ingredient.  Such  attachments  do  honour  to  human  nature,  and 
ere  equally  delightful  and  lasting.  The  Duke  will  be  at  no  loss  to 
determine,  whether  Oxford  or  Cambridge  is  to  be  honoured  with 
Lord  Huntley's  residence.  It  is  natural  for  me  to  have  a  partiality 
to  the  former  :  but  in  most  things  they  are,  I  believe,  pretty  equal. 
Oxford  is  a  place  of  greater  resort  and  more  brilliancy  ;  but  the 
quiet  of  Cambridge  is  perhaps  more  salutary  to  the  student.  Each 
has  produced  such  a  number  of  gi^eat  men,  as  no  other  seminary  in 
the  ancient  or  modern  world  can  boast  of.  The  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter's son,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  gone  to  Cambridge. 

"  My  son  is  greatly  honoured  by  the  notice  you  take  of  him, 
and  desires  to  offer  his  humble  service.  His  health  is  quite  re- 
established, but  he  is  too  studious  to  be  robust.  He  has  gone  pretty 
deep  in  the  theory  of  music,  and  now  begins  to  practise  a  little. 
The  organ  is  his  favourite  instrument ;  and,  as  he  has  something 
of  a  mechanical  turn,  and  needs  to  be  decoyed  from  his  books 
sometiiTies,  I  have  made  him  employ  his  leisure  at  Peterhead,  in 
superintending  the  building  of  an  organ,  under  the  auspices  of  Dr 
Laing.  It  is  now  almost  finished,  and  can  already,  as  Hamlet  says, 
"  discourse  most  eloquent  music."  The  workmanship  is  good,  and 
the  tones  are  very  pleasing." 


LETTER  CCVIL 

r>R  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  31st  October,  1783. 

"  THE  account  you  have  from  Miss  Bowdler,  of  Dr  Taylor's 
"  Sermons,"  agrees  exactly  with  the  sentiments  of .   Perhaps 


438  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

you  may  wish  to  see  his  words.  Here  they  are  :  "  Before  I  re- 
"  lease  you,  I  must  mention  one  more  publication,  on  account  of 
*'  its  singularity  as  well  as  its  merit.  It  is  a  volum-e  of  sermons, 
"  published  by  Dr  Taylor,  prebendary  of  Westminster,*  who  is 
"  lately  dead.  He  was  an  old  friend  and  school-fellow  of  Dr  John- 
*'  son's,  and  is  often  mentioned  in  the  Doctor's  letters  to  Mrs  Thrale. 
"  He  was  long  suspected  of  preaching  sermons  written  by  Dr 
"  Johnson.  To  confute  this  calumny,  he  ordered  this  volume  of 
"  sermons  to  be  published  after  his  death.  But  I  am  afraid  it  will 
"  not  quite  answer  his  purpose  ;  for  I  will  venture  to  say,  that 
"  there  is  not  a  man  in  England,  who  knows  any  thing  of  Dr  John- 
"  son's  peculiarities  of  style,  sentiment,  and  composition,  that  will 
"  not  instantly  pi'onounce  these  sermons  to  be  his.  Indeed  they 
"  are  (some  of  them  at  least)  in  his  very  best  manner  ;  and  Taylor 
"  was  no  more  capable  of  writing  them,  than  of  making  an  epic 
"  poem."    I  long  to  see  this  literary  curiosity." 


LETTER  CCVIII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  20th  November,  1788. 

"  I  HAD  the  honour  to  receive  your  Grace's  most  obliging 
letter  yesterday  morning  ;  and  immediately  packed  up  my  papers 
on  the  slave-trade,  and  delivered  them  to  be  forwarded  to  Gordon 
Castle.  They  are  extremely  incorrect,  and  not  fit  to  be  Seen  by 
any  eyes  that  are  not  very  partial  to  the  writer ;  and,  therefore, 
I  must  beg  that  your  Grace  will  not  show  them  to  any  body.  Many 
things  in  them  were  true  when  I  wrote  them,  which  are  not  true 
now  ;  a  late  act  of  parliament,  and  some  late  regulations  in  Jamaica 
and  Barbadoes,  having  greatly  mitigated  the  sufferings  of  the  negroes, 
both  in  the  West  Indies,  and  in  their  transportation  thither  from 
their  own  country.      And  candour  obliges  me  to  declare  further, 

*  The  title  of  the  book  is,  "  Sermons  on  different  Subjects,  left  forpubli- 
"  cation  by  John  Taylor,  LL.  D.  &c.  &c.  Published  by  the  Reverend  Samuel 
"  Hayes,  A.  M."  &c.  A  second  volume  was  published  the  year  following 
by  the  same  title. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE,  439 

that  though,  when  I  wrote  those  papers,  I  thought  I  had  good  rea- 
son to  believe  every  word  in  them,  I  have  since  found,  that  I  was 
misinformed  in  regard  to  several  particulars.  All  this  your  Grace 
will  excuse  with  your  wonted  generosity,  as  well  as  the  blotted 
condition  of  the  manuscript,  which  I  am  afraid  will  make  many- 
passages  quite  unintelligible. 

"  The  late  dreadful  news  from  Windsor  must  have  been  most 
distressing  to  your  Grace*.  Blessed  be  God,  the  danger  seems 
now  to  be  over  ;  otherwise  I  should  not  be  able  to  write  on  that,  oi» 
any  other  subject.  For  these  ten  days  past  I  have  thought  myself 
in  a  dark,  confused,  feverish,  dream,  with  nothing  before  me  but 
danger  and  horror.  The  agitation  and  anxiety  I  have  undergone, 
are  indeed  such  as  it  is  impossible  to  describe,  and  such  as  I  shall 
not  soon  get  the  better  of.  But  may  God  restore  the  health  of  the 
best  of  sovereigns,  and  the  best  of  men  !  and  it  matters  not  vi^hat 
become  of  me.  Your  Grace  must  have  the  most  authentic  intelli- 
gence, otherwise  I  would  tell  you  of  a  letter  which  I  had  to-day 
from  Sir  William  Forbes,  which  mentions  one  received  from  the 
highest  authority,  certifying,  that  his  Majesty  is  in  a  fair  way  of 
recovery  ;  and  that  the  slowness  of  the  recovery  is,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  physicians,  very  much  in  his  favour.  Sir  William  Fordyce 
too,  in  a  letter  which  arrived  here  yesterday,  gives  the  same  ac- 
count, and  says,  that  the  delirium  is  gone.  1  hope  the  King  will 
soon  have  the  exquisite  satisfaction  to  know,  fi'om  what  his  subjects 
have  suffered  on  this  occasion,  that  he  is,  as  he  deserves  to  be,  the 
most  beloved  prince  that  ever  sat  on  the  British  throne. 

"  You  desire  to  know  my  opinion  of  Mr  Gibbon.  I  can  say 
very  little  about  him  ;  for  such  is  the  affectation  of  his  style,  that  I 
could  never  get  through  the  half  of  one  of  his  volumes.  If  any  body 
would  translate  him  into  good  classical  English,  (such,  I  mean,  as 
Addison,  Swift,  Lord  Lyttelton,  &c.  wrote)  I  should  read  him  with 
eagerness  ;  for  I  know  there  must  be  much  curious  matter  in  his 
work,  riis  cavils  against  religion,  have,  I  think,  been  all  confuted  ; 
he  does  not  seem  to  understand  that  part  of  his  subject :  indeed  I 
have  never  yet  met  with  a  man,  or  with  an  author,  Avho  both  undei-- 
stood  Christianity,  and  disbelieved  it.  It  is,  I  am  told,  the  fashion 
to  admire  Gibbon's  style ;  my  opinion  of  it,  however,  is  supported 

*  TheKinsr's  illness. 


44(5  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

by  great  authorities,  of  whom  I  need  only  mention  Lord  Mansfield, 
the  present  Bishop  of  London,  Mrs  Montagu,  and  Major  Mercer. 
In  the  Bishop's  last  letter  to  me  there  is  the  following  passage  : 
*'  We  have  been  much  amused  this  summer  with  Keate's  '  Account 
"  of  the  Pelew  Islands  :'  and  it  is  almost  the  only  summer  book  we 
"  have  had.  For  Gibbon's  three  bulky  quartos  are  fit  only  for  the 
"  gloom  and  horror  of  wintry  storms.  His  style  is  more  obscure 
"  and  affected  than  ever  ;  and  his  insults  on  Christianity  not  less 
"  offensive." 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  your  Grace  is  planning  future  groves 
to  wave  along  the  breezy  hill.  Of  all  rural  occvipations,  if  they 
■were  all  in  my  power,  I  should  prefer  that  of  rearing  trees  and 
shrubs  :  and  accordingly  have  always  admired  Addison's  right  an- 
tediluvian novel,  on  the  subject  of  planting,  as  one  of  the  most  plea- 
sing little  tales  I  ever  saw.  It  is  in  the  "  Spectator,"  Nos.  583, 
584,  585.  Your  account  of  your  walks  through  the  decaying 
tvoods,  puts  me  in  mind  of  a  fine  passage  in  Thomson's  "  Autumn :" 

"  The  pale  descending  year,  yet  pleasing  still, 
"  A  gentler  mood  inspires;  for  now  the  leaf 
"  Incessant  rustles  from  the  mournful  grove, 
"  Oft  startling  such  as  studious  walk  below,"  &c. 

I  am  tempted  to  make  the  quotation  longer,  but  it  is  now  time  to 
release  you." 


LETTER  CCIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  25lh  Mai'ch,  17S9, 

"  I  THANK  you  most  sincerely  for  your  very  instructive 
and  pleasing  letter  ;  and  with  my  whole  soul  I  congratulate  you  on 
one  of  the  happiest  events  that  ever  took  place  in  this  country,  or 
in  any  other.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  mean,  his  Majesty's  re- 
covery. It  is  indeed  a  most  signal  interposition  of  Providence  in 
our  behalf;  and  has  raised  us  all  from  the  deepest  affliction  to  an 
ecstacy  of  joy.     The  rejoicings  on  occasion  of  this  great  event  have 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  441 

been  universal,  and  have  far  exceeded  any  thing  I  ever  saw  before 
in  this  country.  May  the  Hearer  of  prayer,  and  the  God  of  conso- 
lation, confirm  the  King's  recovery,  and  grant  him  to  see  many 
happy  years  in  the  land  of  the  living,  with  his  family  and  people 
flourishing  around  him !  and  may  all  his  people  be  enabled  to  make 
a  right  improvement  of  these  dispensations  of  Providence  !  I  hope 
his  Majesty  has  not  engaged  in  business  too  soon ;  and  that  he  will, 
for  this  great  while,  engage  in  those  parts  of  it  only,  which  may 
amuse  without  fatiguing  him. 

"  My  friend  Dr  Campbell's  great  work  (a  new  Translation  of 
the  Gospels,  with  preliminary  Dissertations,  and  Notes  critical  and 
explanatory,  in  two  volumes  4to)  is  published  at  last.  I  carefully 
read  the  whole  in  manuscript,  and  wrote  many  a  sheet  of  remarks 
and  criticisms  upon  it  ;  and  have  no  scruple  to  say,  that  it  is  one  of 
the  most  important  publications  in  theology,  if  not  the  most  im/ior- 
tant^  that  has  appeared  in  my  time.  It  will  give  the  public,  at  least 
the  rational  part  of  the  public,  a  very  high  idea  of  the  learning, 
acuteness,  industry,  candour,  and  piety,  of  the  author  ;  who  is  my 
next  neighbour ;  and  with  whom  I  have  lived  in  the  same  society, 
upon  the  most  intimate  terms,  for  almost  thirty  years.  It  is  about 
forty  years  since  he  engaged  in  this  important  work  ;  and  yet  I  am 
afraid  he  will  not  get  so  much  by  it  as  Mr  Sheridan  did  by  the  ccr- 
medvofthe  "Duenna." 


LETTER  CCX. 


■DR    BEATTIE    TO    MRS    MONTAGU. 

Peterhead,  25th  May,  1789. 

"  I  CONGRATULATE  you.  Madam,  on  the  late  proceed- 
ings of  the  Commons  in  behalf  of  humanity  and  justice.  The  ac- 
count of  Mr  Wilberforce's  speech  that  appeai'ed  in  the  papers,  is 
no  doubt  very  imperfect ;  but  it  does  him  infinite  honour,  and  I 
have  read  it  once  and  again  with  great  delight.  It  confirms  a  num- 
ber of  facts,  which  I  find  in  my  papers  on  negro-slavery,  but  of 
which  I  had  of  late  become  somewhat  distrustful,  having  forgotten 
f-hc  authorities  on  which  I  had  recorded  them.   The  truth  is,  I  have 

o    K 


U2  hlF^  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

been  collecting  materials  on  that  subject  for  upwards  oT twenty-five 
years  ;  and,  as  far  as  my  poor  voice  could  be  heard,  have  laboured, 
not  altogether  unsuccessfully,  in  pleading  the  cause  of  the  poor 
Africans.  This,  at  least,  I  can  say  with  truth,  that  many  of  my 
pupils  have  gone  to  the  West  Indies  ;  and,  I  trust,  have  carried  my 
principles  along  with  them,  and  exemplified  those  principles  in 
their  conduct  to  their  unfortunate  brethren.  A  good  deal  of  my  in- 
formation, with  respect  to  the  negroes,  I  received  from  a  most 
worthy  old  gentleman,  a  particular  friend  of  mine,  who  had  been 
long  in  one  of  our  West  India  islands  ;  and  having  acquired  a  com- 
petent fortune,  returned  to  his  own  country,  and  devoted  the  last 
thirty  years  of  a  long  life  to  philosophy  and  literature.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  leai-ned  men  I  have  ever  met  M'ith,  a  sincere  Chris- 
tian, and  one  who  held  all  injustice,  oppression,  and  every  sort  of 
inhumanity,  in  utter  detestation.* 

"  Mrs  Arbuthnot  is  surprisingly  well.  She  was  at  church  yes- 
terday. I  need  not  tell  you  with  what  raptures  of  esteem  and  gra- 
titude she  speaks  of  you.  I  observe  your  benevolent  intention  of 
making  an  addition  to  your  bounty  to  her  ;  but  will  take  it  upon  me 
to  say,  that  it  is  quite  unnecessary,  as  I  know  she  considers  herself 
as  raised  by  your  goodness  to  a  state,  not  only  of  competence,  but 
of  opulence.     She  speaks  of  writing  to  her  patroness  very  soon." 


LETTER  CCXI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Petcrliead,  28th  July,  1789. 

"  I  HAVE  been  lately  looking  into  Mrs  Cockburn's  worksf.. 
which  I  borrowed  from  her  niece,  Mrs  Arbuthnot,  and  which, 
though  I  Irad  seen  them  before,  I  had  not  examined  with  any  degree 

*  This  gentleman's  name  was  Wilson,  the  father  of  Mr  Geort^e  Wilson 
of  Lincoln's-inn,  now  one  of  liis  Majesty's  counsel,  learned  in  the  law,  and 
Well  known  to  all  the  bench  and  profession,  as  one  of  the  soundest  and  mnsi. 
learned  lawyers,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  lionourahle  and  M'ell-informod 
men,  at  the  English  bar. 

i      t  See  p.  384. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  413 

of  minuteness.  They  have  given  me  a  very  high  opinion  of  the 
acuteness  of  the  author's  understanding,  and  of  the  goodness  of  her 
principles.  She  is  also  a  clear  and  elegant  ^yriter,  without  any 
affectation.  The  abstruser  parts  of  moral  philosophy  she  seems 
to  have  studied  with  great  accuracy  and  success,  and  is  a  very  able 
advocate  for  Clarke  and  Locke.  She  speaks  with  extraordinary 
veneration  of  Warburton,  who  it  seems  corresponded  with  her 
sometimes  ;  and  she  is  a  great  admirer  of  Pope  ;  but,  what  is  rather 
particular,  values  him  chiefly  on  accovmt  of  his  moral  character, 
and,  in  the  list  of  his  virtues,  mentions  his  friendship  for  Patty 
Blount.  Our  friend,  Mrs  A.  appears  to  have  been  under  great  ob- 
ligations to  her  aunt,  and  to  have  derived  from  her  chiefly  that  taste 
for  reading  and  study,  which  has  been  of  so  great  use  to  her  in  the 
course  of  her  long  and  solitary  life.  I  do  not  find  that  Mrs  Cock- 
bum  was  distinguished  for  her  taste  :  her  attempts  in  poetry  show 
rather  a  deficiency  in  that  respect.  Her  tragedy,  called,  "  The 
"  Fatal  Friendship,"  ought  to  have  been  suppressed  ;  for  it  does  her 
no  credit,  and  shows  her  to  have  been  at  eighteen  a  greater  adept 
in  love  matters  than  unmarried  women  of  that  age  are  commonly 
supposed  to  be  :  There  are  passages  in  that  play,  Avhich  I  could  not 
have  the  face  to  read,  or  hear  read,  in  a  lady's  company.  But  her 
youth,  and  the  licentiousness  of  the  English  stage  in  the  end  of  the 
last  century,  may  be  pleaded,  and  ought  to  be  admitted,  as  an  apo- 
logy, in  behalf  of  one,  who  was  undoubtedly  an  ornament  to  her 
sex,  and  an  honour  to  her  country.  There  are  in  her  works,  espe- 
cially in  her  letters,  many  things  that  would  entertain  you.  She 
lived  many  years  (between  1726  and  1737)  in  Aberdeen ;  and  yet 
I  never  heard  any  person  there  speak  of  her,  though  I  have  often 
heard  her  husband  spoken  of  by  those  who  must  have  known  bdth." 


444  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CCXII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGU. 

Peterhead,  31st  July,  1789. 

"  I  AM  very  happy  to  hear,  that  the  Lord-Primate  of  Ireland* 
has  not  forgotten  me,  and  beg  leave  to  offer  my  humble  respects  to 
his  Grace.  The  endowingof  an  university  at  Armagh,  with  alibrary 
and  astronomical  apparatus,  is  a  work  worthy  of  his  benevolent, 
liberal,  and  magnificent  mind.  Though  the  college  of  Dublin  be, 
as  I  have  been  told  it  is,  abundantly  flourishing,  it  is  certainly  not 
extensive  enough  for  so  populous  a  country  as  Ireland  ;  one  proof 
of  which  is  the  great  number  of  Irish  students  that  every  year 
resort  to  Glasgow  ;  a  circumstance  which  gives  no  little  uneasiness 
to  the  people  of  Dublin,  if  I  may  judge  from  some  of  their  pam- 
phlets ;  in  which  not  Glasgow  only,  but  the  other  Scottish  univer- 
sities, are  attacked  with  rancorous  asperity,  and  such  a  total  disre- 
gard to  truth,  as  is  hardly  credible.  I  once  had  thoughts  of  answer- 
ing one  of  the  most  malicious  of  those  pamphlets,  but  changed  my 
mind  on  considering,  that  the  abuse  was  anonymous,  and,  in  respect 
of  style  and  composition,  so  void  of  merit,  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  its  gaining  any  attention.  I  sincerely  wish  success  to  the  Arch- 
bishop's noble  foundation  at  Armagh.  Every  friend  to  humanity 
must  regret,  that  his  health  is  so  precarious.  I  made  Mr  Creech 
very  happy,  by  transmitting  to  him  your,  and  his  Grace's,  appro- 
bation of  the  "  Comparative  View  of  Edinburgh." 

"  One  knows  not  what  to  say  of  this  wonderful  revolution,  that 
is  likely  to  take  place  in  France.  As  I  wish  all  mankind  to  be  free 
and  happy,  I  should  rejoice  in  the  downfal  of  I'rench  despotism, 
if  I  thought  it  would  give  happiness  to  the  people  :  but  the  French 

*  The  most  reverend  Dr  Richard  Robinson,  Lord-Archbishop  of  Ar- 
magh. A  most  exemplary  prelate,  of  great  worth,  as  this  singular  act  of 
munificence  strongly  evinces.  His  Grace  was,  I  believe,  cousin  to  Mrs  Mon- 
tagu ;  and  an  intimate  friendship  subsisted  between  them.  Out  of  compli- 
ment to  her,  the  remainder  of  his  peerage  of  Rokeby  was  taken  to  her 
nephew,  who  now  enjoys  it. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  445 

seem  to  me  to  be  better  fitted  for  that  sort  of  government  which 
they  want  to  throw  off,  than  for  any  other  that  they  could  adopt  in 
its  stead.  Till  of  late,  the  glory  of  the  monarch  was  the  supreme 
wish  of  a  Frenchman's  heart ;  and  that  principle,  though  in  the 
day  of  trouble  and  tumult  it  may  admit  of  a  temporary  suspension, 
will  not  soon  or  easily  give  way  to  the  cooler  and  more  philosophic 
notions  that  have  long  been  familiar  to  the  British  politician.  It 
is  true,  the  political  ideas  of  the  French  have  been  in  a  state  of  im- 
provement ever  since  the  time  of  Montesquieu,  who  first  gave  his 
countrymen  a  sketch  of  the  constitution  of  England  :  but  political 
liberty  is  a  thing,  which,  even  among  us  who  have  long  enjoyed  it, 
is  not  universally  understood  ;  and  which  Harrington,  Sydney,  and 
Locke,  understood  very  imperfectly.  I  dare  say,  that  the  bulk  of 
the  French  nation  at  this  moment  suppose,  as  the  North  Americans 
seem  to  do,  that  liberty  consists  in  the  privilege  of  doing  what  they 
please,  or,  at  least,  of  being  subject  to  no  laws  but  those  of  their 
own  making  ;  and  yet  it  is  certainly  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 
The  first  would  be  anarchy,  the  worst  sort  of  slavery  ;  and  the  other 
is  not  compatible  with  any  plan  of  policy  that  was  ever  yet  devised 
by  man.  Political  liberty  I  take  to  be,  that  state  of  society,  in  which 
men  are  so  governed  by  equitable  laws,  and  so  tried  by  equitable 
judges,  that  no  man  can  be  hindered  from  doing  what  the  law  allows 
him  to  do,  nor  have  reason  to  be  afraid  of  any  man  so  long  as  he 
does  his  duty.  But  I  apprehend  it  will  be  long  before  a  nation, 
emerging  from  despotism,  and  assuming  a  popular  form  of  policy, 
can  hit  upon  the  proper  way  of  establishing  such  a  state  of  things  ; 
and,  till  that  be  done,  convulsions  are  to  be  expected,  which  will 
sometimes  endanger  liberty,  and  sometimes  tend  to  the  subversion 
of  legal  authority.  If  the  I'evolution  in  France  be  made  effectual, 
it  will  probably  be  beneficial  to  the  poor  negroes  :  for  I  am  told, 
that  M.  Neckar,  and  the  National  Assembly,  have  explicitly  de^ 
clared  themselves  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  of  the  death  of  my  friend,  Mr  Ram. 
say,  who  was  one  of  the  first  who  drew  the  public  attention  to  that 
subject.  He  was  long  in  the  West  Indies  ;  and  at  his  return  to 
Britain  was  presented  to  the  living  of  Tcston  in  Kent,  and  published 
his  book  on  Slavery,  which  so  exasperated  the  people  concerned  in 
that  business,  that  they  attacked  not  only  his  book,  but  also  his  mo- 
ral character,  with  every  species  of  abuse.     Ramsay,  however, 


446  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

stood  his  ground,  and  answered  to  all  the  charges  Ihey  brought 
against  him.  When  I  told  him,  about  two  years  ago,  that  I  thought 
he  gave  himself  too  much  unnecessary  trouble  in  answering  every 
adversary,  whether  anonymous  or  otherwise,  he  said  there  was 
something  in  his  temper,  which  would  not  allow  him  to  rest  till  he 
had  done  so.  I  am  persuaded,  that  anxiety  of  his  has  been  in  a 
great  measure  the  occasion  of  his  death  ;  and  I  find  the  Bishop  of 
London,  who  knew  him  well,  is  of  the  same  opinion.  The  Bishop 
says  he  has  died  a  martyr  to  a  noble  cause.  Mr  Ramsay  was  born 
at  Frasersburgh,  about  eighteen  miles  from  this  place,  and  was 
educated  at  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  Avhere  I  got  acquainted  with 
him.  He  was  several  years  older  than  I ;  but  our  standing  as  col- 
legians was  the  same,  though  we  were  of  different  colleges." 


The  following  letter,  no  doubt,  refers  to  some  present  of  money 
made  by  Mrs  Montagu  to  Dr  Beattie's  youngest  son,  who  had  been 
named  after  her  ;  but  I  do  not  find  any  letter,  either  of  her's  or  of 
Dr  Beattie's,  in  which  the  amount  is  specified.  What  he  says  of 
the  blame  she  used  to  throw  on  Rousseau  and  others,  for  refusing 
such  presents,  as  setting  too  high  a  value  on  money,  is  not,  to  me 
at  least,  very  intelligible. 


LETTER  CCXin. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MRS  MONTAGV. 

Peterhead,  14th  September,  1789. 

"  THOUGH  I  have  had  innumerable  opportunities  of  admir- 
ing the  generosity  of  your  sentiments,  and  your  superiority  to  the 
formalities  of  fashion  and  verbal  compliment,  I  am  at  a  loss  what 
answer  I  shall  return  to  your  letter.  I  know  with  what  pleasure 
you  confer  favours,  and  that  you  prize  the  gifts  of  fortune  only  as 
they  supply  you  with  the  means  of  doing  good  ;  I  have  heard  you 
blame  Rousseau  and  others  for  setting  so  high  a  value  on  money, 
as  to  refuse  any  assistance  of  that  kind  from  those  whose  patronage 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  44r 

they  would  have  been  proud  to  boast  of  in  any  other  way  :  and  yet 
so  largely  have  I  already  participated  in  your  bounty,  that  I  am 
almost  tempted  to  remonstrate  a  little  on  the  present  occasion. 
However,  let  it  be  as  you  are  pleased  to  order.  In  return  for  so 
much  goodness,  it  would  ill  become  me  to  teaze  you  with  protes- 
tations and  apologies.  With  the  most  sincere  gratitude,  therefore, 
and  with  fervent  prayers  for  your  health  and  happiness,  I  accept 
of  your  most  generous  offer  in  behalf  of  my  little  boy,  Avhom  you 
honour  with  the  appellation  of  godson.  He  shall  thank  you  soon 
with  his  own  hand.  I  know  he  will  be  much  affected  with  this  new 
instance  of  your  favour.  For  though  he  is  sometimes  less  atten- 
tive than  I  could  wish,  in  matters  of  literature,  he  is  of  an  affection- 
ate and  grateful  disposition,  and  his  veneration  for  you,  Madam,  is 
unbounded.  As  yet  he  knows  not  what  your  letter  contains.  I  in- 
tend to  keep  back  from  him  that  intelligence  for  a  few  days,  till 
circumstances  afford  me  an  opportunity  of  enforcing,  by  means  of 
it,  some  useful  moral  lesson  ;  and  a  lesson  so  enforced,  will,  I  trust, 
have  a  powerful  and  lasting  effect.  When  I  return  to  Aberdeen, 
which  win  be  in  ten  or  twelve  days,  I  shall,  by  subjoining  a  clause 
to  my  will,  secure  your  bounty  to  him  ;  which  will  be  a  very  ma- 
terial addition  to  his  peculium. 

"  If  the  newspapers  may  be  credited,  French  affairs  become 
every  day  "  confusion  vv'orse  confounded,"  Whatever  may  be  in 
the  minds  of  the  more  intelligent  part  of  the  nation,  it  is  plain  that 
the  generality  are  actuated  by  a  levelling  principle  of  the  worst 
kind  ;  which  one  is  sorry  to  see  likely  to  extend  its  influence  be- 
yond the  limits  of  France.  I  do  not  think  that  any  thing  like  the 
enormities  now  prevailing  there,  took  place  during  our  civil  wars 
of  the  last  century.  We  lost  much  blood,  it  is  true,  but  it  was  ge- 
nerally in  the  field  of  battle,  or  with  some  appearance  at  least  of 
law  ;  and  we  had  but  two  parties,  and  those  headed  by  men  of  abi- 
lities and  authority.  But  in  Fi'ance  there  seems  to  be  no  subordi- 
nation, authority,  or  law,  nor  any  great  abilities  exerted  any  vvliere ; 
instead  of  two,  there  are  innumerable  parlies  ;  and  tlie  blood  tluit 
is  spilt  is  ail  in  the  wav  of  murder  and  massacre." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CCXIV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTIXNOT,  ESQ. 

Aberdeen,  12th  December,  1789. 

'^  I  THANK  you  for  your  valuable  hints  with  respect  to 
Addison.  They  shall  be  duly  attended  to.  I  have  begun  my  notes 
on  Tickell's  life  of  him,  and  written  several  pages.  But  I  fear  it 
will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  make  them  interesting  ;  so  that  if 
Mr  Sibbald  *  expect  much  from  them,  he  will  certainly  be  disap- 
pointed. I  suppose  there  will  not  be  room  in  the  volume  for  more 
than  thirty  or  forty  pages  of  this  prefatory  matterf ;  and  those  I 
hope  to  finish  in  a  few  weeks. 

"  I  remember  that  Dr  Hurd  speaks  somewhere  of  somebody 
who  had  projected  an  epic  poem  of  the  ancient  and  legitimate  form ; 
but  I  know  not  whom  he  meant.  I  have  heard  Dr  Brown  guessed 
to  be  the  person  ;  but  he  was  by  no  means  equal  to  the  task  ;  nor 
has  either  this  age  or  the  last  produced  a  genius  equal  to  it,  except 
perhaps  Mr  Gray.  Pope  himself  would  have  failed  if  he  had  per- 
sisted in  his  epic  project.  He  would  undoubtedly  have  made  some- 
thing superior  to  "  Leonidas,"  the  "  Epigoniad,"  the  "  Henriade," 
Sec.  but  with  Homer,  Virgil,  and  Milton,  he  could  no  more  cope» 
than  "  I  with  Hercules." 

"  I  wish  I  could  see  Philips's  play  of  the  "  Distrest  Mother;" 
for  I  never  have  seen  it,  nor  do  I  know  where  to  inquire  about  it. 
I  wish  you  would  take  the  trouble  to  compare  it  with  Racine's 
"  Andromaque,"  and  inform  me  how  far  it  is  a  translation  or  an 
imitation  of  that  tragedy.  From  such  a  writer  as  Ambrose  Philips 
I  never  could  have  expected  a  good  play,  or  a  good  poem  of  any 
sort ;  which  made  me  always  think,  that  there  must  be  great  ex- 
travagance of  praise  in  what  Addison  says  of  it.  But  it  has  the 
merit  of  furnishing  matter  for  one  of  the  most  humorous  of  Addi- 
son's papers.  That  strange  mixture  of  sentiments  that  arise  in  Sir 
Roger's  mind,  from  his  every  now  and  then  mistaking  the  play  for 

*  The  publisher.  t  They  amount  to  xlvi. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  449 

a  reality,  and  by  and  bye  recollecting  that  it  is  but  a  play,  is  perfect- 
ly natural,  and  Addison  has  managed  it  to  the  best  account.  Field- 
ing's imitation  of  it,  in  that  part  of  "  Tom  Jones"  where  Patridge 
goes  to  see  "  Hamlet,"  is  hardly  inferior." 


LETTER  CCXV. 


-Da  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FOBBES. 

Aberdeen,  9th  April,  1790. 

*'  I  WAS  so  much  delighted  with  your  most  affectionate  let- 
ter, that  I  wished  to  answer  it  in  course  ;  but  was  prevented,  by 
having  more  to  do  in  the  college  than  usual,  it  being  the  last  week 
of  our  session.  The  vacation  is  now  begun  ;  and  nothing,  but  what 
I  am  going  to  mention,  would  prevent  my  setting  out  immediately 
for  your  house  in  George-street,  where  I  wish  on  many  accounts 
to  be,  and  where,  in  a  few  weeks,  I  hope  I  shall  be.  My  son's  bad 
health  is  the  circumstance  which  prevents  me.  In  the  end  of  last 
November,  by  giving  assistance  to  a  sick  friend  in  the  night  time, 
he  got  a  very  severe  cold,  which  came  on  with  a  violent  fit  of 
fever,  and  he  has  been  in  a  declining  way  almost  ever  since. 
Within  these  three  weeks  he  has  got  a  little  better,  which,  I  flatter 
myself  is  at  this  season  of  the  year  a  good  symptom.  He  has  no 
cough,  and  very  little  positive  pain,  and  he  has  good  spirits ;  his 
chief  complaints  are  weakness  and  a  disordered  stomach.  Dr  ***** 
thinks,  and  he  thinks  himself,  that  some  weeks  of  Peterhead  water, 
followed  by  a  course  of  goats'  milk,  will  set  him  up  again.  To 
Peterhead,  therefore,  we  shall  go  in  a  few  days. 

"  There  is  not  much  in  my  notes  on  Addison's  papers.  They 
do  not  interfere  with  Avhat  I  projected  some  time  ago,  about  an 
"  Essay  on  the  Writings  and  Genius  of  Addison  ;"  which,  if  I  live 
to  finish  it,  will  be  a  volume  by  itself.  But,  as  you  observe,  the 
second  volume  of  my  "  Elements,"  &c.  must  be  my  first  concern. 
A  great  part  of  the  materials  of  it  are  provided  ;  and  two  or  three 
months  of  leisure,  and  tolerable  health,  would  almost  enable  me 

to  finish  it. 

3  I. 


450  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  The  same  favourable  accounts,  which  you  are  so  good  to  give 
me,  of  the  Bisliop  of  London  and  Mrs  Porteus,  I  have  received 
from  several  quarters,  and  very  lately  in  a  letter  from  himself,  in 
■which  there  is  a  particular  and  pleasing  description  of  his  new 
Kentish  retreat  near  Sevenoaks.  I  once  thought  of  seeing  him, 
and  some  other  friends  in  the  south,  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing 
summer.  The  Bishop's  constitution  is  certainly  not  a  robust  one  ; 
it  seems  rather  the  contrary  ;  and  yet  nobody  enjoys  better  health 
and  spirits  than  he  ;  such  are  the  effects  of  temperance,  activity, 
and  a  cheerful  temper.  I  earnestly  pray  his  life  may  be  long  ;  for 
he  is  a  blessing  to  his  friends,  and  a  zealous  and  judicious  guardian 
of  the  church.  You  would  observe,  and  I  am  sure  with  pleasure, 
how  averse  the  parliament  is  to  civil  or  ecclesiastical  innovation. 
This  to  all,  "  who  fear  God  and  honour  the  King,  who  study  to  be 
"  quiet  and  mind  their  own  business,  and  meddle  not  with  them 
"  who  are  given  to  change,"  must  be  very  welcome  intelligence. 
I  hope  our  people  will  take  wai-ning  from  France  ;  which  I  believe 
is  at  present  a  miserable  country,  and  likely  to  continue  so.  The 
French  wish  for  liberty,  but  know  not  what  it  is ;  they  seem  to 
think  it  the  same  thing  with  levelling.  Their  King  is  the  slave  of 
their  Assembly,  and  their  Assembly  are  the  slaves  of  the  rabble." 


LETTER  CCXVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESq. 

Peterhead,  25th  April,  179Q. 

"  I  THANK  you  for  your  very  kind  letter,  and  for  the  ten- 
der concern  you  take  in  my  son's  welfare.  By  the  advice  of  physi- 
cians, and  in  consequence  of  his  own  earnest  desire,  I  brought  him 
hither  about  a  week  ago.  He  has  gained  nothing  as  yet ;  I  am 
afraid  he  has  rather  been  losing  ground.  Yet  Dr  *****  is  under 
no  apprehensions,  and  assures  me  there  is  nothing  the  matter  with 
him  but  weakness  ;  which,  being  the  effect  of  relaxation  merely, 
good  weather,  fresh  air,  strengthening  medicines,  and  moderate 
exercise,  will  in  time  remove.     I  thought  of  a  journey  for  him 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  451 

several  weeks  ago  ;  but  find,  after  repeated  trials,  that  he  has  not 
strength  equal  to  it. 

"  Of  the  notes  on  Tickell's  "  Life  of  Addison,"  and  Johnson's 
"  Remarks  on  his  Prose-writings,"  the  printing  is  at  last  begun, 
but  proceeds  very  slowly.  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  ex- 
tract from  the  "  New  Tatler,"  relating  to  Addison's  thousand 
pounds.  It  is  certainly  a  true  state  of  that  transaction,  of  which 
Dr  Johnson  gives  an  account  so  partial,  and  to  Addison  so  injuri- 
ous. 

"  The  annotations  on  the  late  edition  of  the  "  Tatler,"  in  six 
volumes,  are  in  general  not  such  as  one  would  have   expected. 
Many  of  them  are  very  trifling  ;  and  many  of  them,  by  endeavour- 
ing to  substitute  real  for  fictitious  names,  and  so  to  transform 
general  into  personal  satire,  are  injurious  to  the  writers  of  the 
"  Tatler,"  and  have  a  tendency  to  make  that  work  both  less  useful 
and  less  amusing.     And  what  are  we  to  think  of  that  assertion,  so 
often  repeated  in  those  annotations,  that  it  is  impossible  to  distin- 
guish the  style  of  Addison  from  that  of  Steele  ?  This  alone  would 
satisfy  me,  that  the  annotators  were  no  competent  judges,  either 
of  composition,  or  of  the  English  language  ;  which  indeed  appears 
from  the  general  tenor  of  their  oAvn   style,  which  is  full  of  tliose 
new-fangled  phrases  and  barbarous  idioms  that  are  noAV  so  much 
affected  by  those  who  form  their  style  from  political  pamphlets,  and 
those  pretended  speeches  in  parliament  that  appear  in  newspapers. 
Should  this  jargon   continue  to  gain  ground  among  us,  English 
literature  will  go  to  ruin.    During  the  last  twenty  years,  especially 
since  the  breaking  out  of  the  American  war,  it  has  made  an  alarm- 
ing progress.     One  does  not  wonder  that  such  a  fashion  should  b.e 
adopted  by  illiterate  people,  or  by  those  who  are  not  conversant  in 
the  best  English  authors  ;  but  it  is  a  shame  to  see  such  a  man  as 
Lord  Hailes  give  way  to  it,  as  he  has  done  in  some  of  his  latest 
publications.     If  I  live  to  execute  what  I  propose,  on  the  writings 
and  genius  of  Addison,  I  shall  at  least  enter  my  protest  against  this 
practice  ;  and,  by  exhibiting  a  copious  specimen  of  the  new  phra- 
seology, endeavour  to  make  my  reader  set  his  heart  against  it. 

"  I  am  very  happy  to  hear,  that  your  eldest  son  intends  s^  soon 
to  exchange  Paris  for  Geneva  ;  a  land  of  impiety  and  distraction^ 
for  a  settled  government  in  a  Christian  country.  Ever  since  the 
breaking  out  of  this  revolution,  (I  should  rather  say,  since  the 


452  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

commencement  of  French  anarchy)  my  opinion  of  that  infatuated 
people  has  been  invariably  the  same.  I  wish  them  liberty  with  all 
my  heart ;  but  the  liberty  they  aim  at,  that  is,  the  liberty  of  doing 
what  they  please,  I  do  not  wish  them.  No  despotism  is  so  dread- 
ful as  that  of  the  rabble  ;  the  Bastile  was  never  so  bad  a  thing  as 
the  lanterne  is  ;  and  I  doubt  not  that  the  greatest  and  most  respecta- 
ble part  of  the  French  nation  would  be  heartily  glad  to  see  their 
old  government  re-established,  even  in  all  its  rigour.  But,  in  fact, 
it  was  not  rigorous ;  it  was  the  mildest  despotism  upon  earth ;  and 
far  preferable,  in  my  opinion,  if  we  consider  what  was  good  in  it, 
as  well  as  what  was  bad,  to  any  republican  form  of  govei'ument 
now  subsisting.  I  wish  Mr  Burke  would  publish  what  he  intended 
on  the  present  state  of  France.  He  is  a  man  of  principle,  and  a 
friend  to  religion,  to  law,  and  to  monarchy,  as  well  as  to  liberty." 


LETTER  CCXVII. 


UR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM    FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  23d  July,  lySO. 

"  I  HAVE  read  Bruce's  "  Travels,"  all  but  the  second 
volume,  which  contains  a  very  uninteresting  business,  the  civil 
history  of  Abyssinia.  I  became  fonder  of  Bruce  as  he  and  I  grew 
better  acquainted.  He  is  not  an  elegant  writer,  but  he  is  frequent- 
ly a  learned  one  ;  and,  though  too  much  given  to  ostentation,  I 
think  we  must,  for  all  that,  acknowledge  him  to  be  a  hero.  There 
is  much  curious  matter  in  him:  I  thought  I  saw  some  contradic- 
tions or  inconsistencies  ;  but  that  might  be  owing  to  the  distracted 
state  of  my  mind.  If  I  can  find  leisure  I  will  read  him  a  second 
time,  and  then  I  am  sure  I  shall  like  him  still  better.  I  honour 
him  greatly  for  being  a  Christian,  as  well  as  a  traveller  and  philo- 
sopher :  there  are  in  his  book  many  striking  confirmations  of  the 
truth  of  the  Old  Testament  history,  which  he  emphatically  calls 
the  most  authentic  of  all  ancient  histoi-ies. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  453 

LETTER  CCXVIII. 

DH  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  3d  August,  1790. 

"  MY  son  continues,  as  he  has  been  for  this  four  weeks  past, 
without  either  gaining  ground,  or  apparently  losing  any.  His  de- 
bility is  extreme ;  and  his  cough  a  little  troublesome,  but  not  very 
painful ;  and  to  me  it  does  not  seem  to  have  that  hollow  sound 
which  is  generally  heard  in  consumptive  cases.  He  continues  his 
milk  diet ;  the  greatest  part  of  which  is  goats'  milk. 

"  I  am  well  aware  of  the  pi'opriety  of  your  advice,  and  will 
endeavour  to  profit  by  it.  To  torment  ourselves  with  unavailing 
anxieties  about  possible  or  even  probable  evils,  is  not  only  impru- 
dent but  unlawful ;  for  our  religion  expressly  forbids  it.  But  I 
have  not  now  the  command  of  my  thoughts.  Ever  since  the  com- 
mencement of  our  vacation,  I  have  been  passing,  without  intermis- 
sion, from  one  scene  of  perplexity  and  sorrow  to  another.  But  let 
me  not  trouble  you  with  things  of  this  nature.  It  would  become 
me  better  to  speak  of  the  manifold  blessings  which  Providence  has 
conferred  upon  me,  than  of  any  trials  which  may  have  fallen  to  my 
lot.  These  will  all  terminate  well,  if  it  is  not  my  own  fault ;  and 
even  for  these  I  ought  to  be  thankful ;  for  I  can  say,  from  the  full- 
est conviction,  that  "  it  is  good  for  me  to  have  been  afflicted." 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  approve  of  my  slight  annotations  upon 
Addison.  I  have  not  yet  got  a  sight  of  the  new  edition  of  his  prose- 
works  ;  but  I  should  like  to  see  it,  having  almost  forgotten  what 
I  wrote,  of  which  I  kept  no  copy.  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  Miss 
Bowdler  for  her  favourable  opinion  ;  and  am  well  pleased  to 
find,  that  she  approves  of  my  sentiments  with  respect  to  the  pre- 
sent rapid  decline  of  the  English  language.  I  begin  to  fear  it  will 
be  impossible  to  check  it ;  but  an  attempt  would  be  made,  if  I  had 
leisure  and  a  little  more  tranquillity  of  mind. 

"  I  have  been  reading  with  all  the  attention  that  my  bewildered 
n»ind  is  capable  of,  Bisliop  Newton's    "  Dissertations  on   the 


454  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

Prophecies."  The  simplicity  of  the  style  and  manner  is  very 
characteristical  of  its  author,  whom  I  well  knew,  and  who  was  the 
most  saint-like  Nathaniel  I  ever  saw.  It  is  a  very  learned  and  pious 
work,  and  should  be  read  by  every  body  :  for  though  all  the  rea- 
sonings are  not  equally  satisfying,  a  thing  not  to  be  expected  in  such 
a  work,  it  contains  many  acute  and  striking  observations,  which, 
though  they  should  not  overcome  the  obstinacy  of  the  infidel,  can 
hardly  fail  to  confirm  the  faith  of  the  Christian.  It  contains  a  very 
great  variety  of  historical  information,  and  throws  a  surprising- 
light  on  many  obscure  passages  of  Scripture." 


That  misfortune  which  Dr  Beattie  had  long  dreaded,  the  loss 
of  one  so  dear  to  him  as  his  eldest  son,  was  now  fast  advancing. 
In  his  letters  to  his  friends  for  several  months  preceding,  he  had 
given  a  melancholy  presage  of  what  was  about  to  happen ;  and  the 
piety  and  resignation  with  which  he  viewed  its  approach,  were 
truly  edifying. 

The  following  letter  to  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon  gives  an  ac- 
count of  that  event  having  actually  taken  place.  It  is  worthy  of 
himself,  and  cannot  be  perused  without  a  deep  sense  of  what  he 
must  have  suffered  on  the  occasion. 


LETTER  CCXIX. 


DK  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 

Aberdeen,  1st  December,  1790. 

"  KNOWING  with  what  kindness  and  condescension  your 
Grace  takes  an  interest  in  every  thing  that  concerns  me  and  my 
little  family,  I  take  the  liberty  to  inform  you,  that  my  son  James  is 
dead  ;  that  the  last  duties  to  him  are  now  paid  ;  and  that  I  am  en- 
deavouring to  return,  with  the  little  ability  that  is  left  me,  and  with 
entire  submission  to  the  will  of  Providence,  to  the  ordinary  busi- 
ness of  life.   I  have  lost  one  who  was  always  a  pleasing  companion ; 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  455 

but  who,  for  the  last  five  or  six  years,  was  one  of  the  most  enter- 
taining and  instructive  companions  that  ever  man  was  blest  with  : 
For  his  mind  comprehended  almost  every  science  ;  he  was  a  most 
attentive  observer  of  life  and  manners ,  a  master  of  classical 
learning  ;  and  he  possessed  an  exuberance  of  wit  and  humour,  a 
force  of  understanding,  and  a  correctness  and  delicacy  of  taste,  be- 
yond any  other  person  of  his  age  I  have  ever  known. 

"  He  was  taken  ill  in  the  night  of  the  3uth  of  November,  1789  ; 
and  from  that  time  his  decline  commenced.  It  was  long  what 
physicians  call  a  ne-i-vous  atro/ihy ;  but  towards  the  end  of  June, 
symptoms  began  to  appear  of  the  lungs  being  affected.  Goats' 
milk,  and  afterwards  asses'  milk,  were  procured  for  him  in  abun- 
dance ;  and  such  exercise  as  he  could  bear,  he  regularly  took : 
these  means  lengthened  his  days,  no  doubt,  and  alleviated  his  suf- 
ferings, which  in  deed  were  not  often  severe  ;  but,  in  spite  of  all  that 
could  be  done,  he  grew  weaker  and  Aveaker,  and  died  the  19th  of 
November,  1790,  without  complaint  or  pain,  without  even  a  groan 
or  a  sigh  ;  retaining  to  the  last  moment  the  use  of  his  rational 
faculties ;  indeed,  from  first  to  last,  not  one  delirious  word  ever 
escaped  him.  He  lived  twenty-two  years  and  thirteen  days.  Many 
weeks  before  it  came,  he  saw  death  approaching  ;  and  he  met  it 
with  such  composure  and  pious  resignation,  as  may  no  doubt  be 
equalled,  but  caimot  be  surpassed. 

"  He  has  left  many  things  in  writing,  serious  and  humorous., 
scientific  and  miscellaneous,  prose  and  verse,  Latin  and  English  ; 
but  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  I  shall  be  able  to  harden  my  heart 
so  far  as  to  revise  them. 

"  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  know,  that  every  thing  has  been 
done  for  him  that  could  be  done  ;  and  every  thing  according  to  the 
best  medical  advice  that  Scotland  could  afford.  For  the  last  five 
months  I  kept  in  my  family  a  young  medical  friend,  who  was  con- 
stantly at  hand  :  and  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  my  son's 
illness,  I  was  always  either  by  him,  or  within  call.  From  these 
circumstances,  your  Grace  will  readily  believe,  that  I  derive  no 
little  satisfaction.  But  my  chief  comfort  arises  from  reflecting 
upon  the  particulars  of  his  life  ;  which  was  one  uninterrupted  ex- 
ercise of  piety,  benevolence,  filial  affection,  and  indeed  of  every 
virtue  which  it  was  in  his  power  to  practise.  I  shall  not,  with  re- 
spect to  him,  adopt  a  mode  of  speech  which  has  become  too  com- 


456  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

mon,  and  call  him  my  poor  son :  for  I  must  believe,  that  he  is  in- 
finitely happy,  and  will  be  so  for  ever. 

«  May  God  grant  every  blessing  to  your  Grace,  your  family, 
and  all  your  friends.' 

"  The  Duke  of  Gordon  has  done  me  the  honour,  according  to 
his  wonted  and  very  great  humanity,  to  write  me  a  rtiost  friendly 
and  sympathetic  letter  on  this  occasion,'* 


SECTION  IV. 


gROM  THE    DEATH  OF  DR  BEATTIE's  ELDEST  SON  IN   1790,   TO  HIS 
OAVN  DEATH  IN   1803. 


LJ  R  BEATTIE  bore  the  loss  of  his  son  with  singular 
fortitude  and  resignation.  Yet  although  his  grief  was  not  clamor- 
ous, it  was  not  the  less  severe ;  and  that  beautiful  line  of  his  own 
"  Hermit"  might  most  aptly  be  applied  to  him  : 

♦'  He  thought  as  a  sage,  though  he  felt  as  a  man." 

The  event  indeed  had  been  long  foreseen ;  he  was  therefore  not 
altogether  unprepared  to  meet  the  stroke :  and  the  thousand 
nameless  attentions  which  he  had  been  in  the  daily  habit  of  paying 
to  this  darling  object  of  his  affection,  during  the  course  of  his  ill- 
ness, by  continually  occupying  his  time,  had  in  some  degree  given 
employment  to  his  thoughts,  and  had  prevented  him  from  feeling 
the  full  weight  of  his  impending  misfortune.  But  when  at  length 
the  scene  was  closed,  and  he  had  piously  paid  the  last  mournful 
duties  to  his  child's  remains,  he  experienced,  in  its  full  extent, 
the  melancholy  void  which  was  occasioned  by  the  loss  of  one  so 
dear  to  him,  who,  as  he  himself  emphatically  expresses  it,  had  been 
"  the  pleasantest,  and  for  the  last  four  or  five  years  of  his  short  life, 
"  one  of  the  most  instructive  companions  that  ever  man  was  de- 
"  lighted  with.  But — The  Lord  gave;  the  Lord  hath  taken 
"  AWAv:  blessed  be  THE  NAME  OF  THE  LoRD. — I  adore  the  Au- 
"  thor  of  all  good,  who  gave  him  grace  to  lead  such  a  life,  and  die 
"  such  a  death,  as  makes  it  impossible  for  a  Christian  to  doubt  of 
"  his  having  entei'ed  upon  the  inheritance  of  a  happy  immortal- 
"  ity."*     His  habitual  piety  and  submission  to  the  will  of  Heaven, 

*  "  Account  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  James  Hay  3eattie,"  p.  56. 
l2mo  edition. 

o  M 


458  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

were  indeed  the  great  sources  whence  he  derived  that  fortitude  by 
which  he  was  enabled  to  bear  up  under  this  weight  of  affliction. 
The  very  thought,  too,  of  his  son's  extraordinary  merit,  Avhile 
in  one  respect  it  aggravated  the  feeling  of  his  loss,  afforded  hirrt 
no  slight  consolation  under  it ;  and  I  believe  he  might  have  ap- 
propriated to  himself,  with  perfect  sincerity,  the  beautiful  and 
affecting  eulogy  of  the  great  Duke  of  Ormond,  on  occasion  of 
the  death  of  the  virtuous  and  gallant  Earl  of  Ossory,  that  "  he 
"  would  not  exchange  his  dead  son  for  any  living  son  in  Christen- 
«  dom."* 

As  soon  as  Dr  Beattie  was  able  to  collect  his  scattered  thoughts, 
he  set  himself  to  examine  the  papers  which  his  son  had  left  behind 
him  ;  consisting  chiefly  of  fragments  of  essays,  and  unfinished  pieces 
of  poetry,  on  the  composition  of  which  he  had  occasionally  employ- 
ed himself;  together  with  many  unconnected  memorandums  of 
what  he  meant  to  perform,  had  it  pleased  God  to  prolong  his  life. 
Those  manuscripts,  as  they  evinced  the  extent  of  his  genius,  and 
the  singular  proficiency  to  which  he  had  attained  during  so  short  a 
period,  in  so  many  branches  of  literature  and  science,  while  they 
excited  his  father's  admiration,  added  to  the  regret  he  could  not 
but  feel  for  the  untimely  fate  of  one  who  had  given  such  rich  pro- 
mises, had  he  been  spared,  of  being  an  ornament  to  his  country,  and 
a  blessing  to  mankind.  From  among  these  papers,  he  selected 
such  pieces  as  he  thought  deserving  of  preservation ;  and  he  soothed 
his  grief,  by  writing  an  accountof  his  son's  life  and  character,  which 
he  resolved,  though  not  to  publish,  yet  to  print  for  the  use  of  his 
friends.  He  was  pleased  to  inscribe  it  to  Mr  Baron  Gordon,  Ma- 
jor Mercer,  Mr  Arbuthnot,  and  myself,  to  all  of  whom  he  was 
much  attached,  as  he  had  long  received  from  us  the  strongest 
proofs  of  mutual  friendship. 

Of  this  selection,  it  must  be  fairly  acknowledged,  that  all  the 
pieces  are  by  no  means  of  equal  merit.  While  some  bear  vmdis- 
puted  marks  of  genius  and  talents,  far  beyond  the  author's  years, 
others  do  not  rise  even  to  mediocrity.  He  himself  gave  the  reason 
of  the  miscellaneous  nature  of  the  collection,  in  his  prefatory  ad- 
dress ;  in  which  he  says,  that  "  He  wished  to  give  such  proofs  as 
"  could  be  had,  and  might  be  published,  of  the  various  talents  of 
"  the  author;  and,  for  the  sake  of  example,  to  show,  that,  though 
"  studious  and  learned,  he  was  neither  austere  nor  formal ;  and 

*  Hume's  «'  History  of  England,"  Vol.  VIII.  p.  164. 


i 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  459 

"  that  in  him  the  strictest  piety  and  modesty  were  united,  with  the 
"  utmost  cheerfulness,  and  even  playfulness  of  disposition."*  In 
vain  was  it  that  some  of  his  friends,  to  whose  perusal  he  had  sub- 
mitted the  manuscript,  took  the  liberty  of  representing  to  him, 
that  of  those  humorous  pieces,  of  which  Dr  Beattie  was  himself 
exceedingly  fond,  although  they  had  no  doubt  been  highly  relished 
by  the  domestic  circle,  for  whose  amusement  they  had  been  origi- 
nally composed,  some  were  of  such  a  nature,  as  that  no  very  high 
degree  of  approbation  could  be  looked  for  from  others — that,  there- 
fore, he  had  better  confine  his  selection  to  such,  whether  in  verse 
or  prose,  as  were  of  undisputed  merit.  Dr  Beattie,  however, 
continued  firm  in  his  own  opinion  ;  and  the  volume  came  from  the 
press  as  it  now  appearsf.  To  the  edition  of  Dr  Beattie's  works,  in 
prose  and  verse,  now  preparing  for  publication,  I  propose  to  subjoin 
only  such  a  selection  of  those  pieces  of  his  son's,  as,  in  my  judg- 
ment, do  him  most  credit ;  together  with  an  abridgment  of  the 
"  Account  of  his  Life  and  Character."  If  in  doing  so,  1  shall  thus 
take  the  liberty  of  differing  from  an  authority  so  high,  I  can  only 
plead  in  my  own  vindication,  the  opinion  I  have  mentioned,  as  hav- 
ing originally  been  given,  and  the  rectitude  of  my  intention,  in 
anxiously  wishing  to  do  what  I  think  will  be  most  conducive  to  the 
reputation  of  both  father  and  son. 

I  now  proceed  with  a  continuance  of  his  correspondence  with 
his  friends. 

LETTER  CCXX. 

DR  BEATTIE   TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Aberdeen,  14th  December,  1790. 

"  I  KNOW  you  are  anxious  to  hear  from  me ;  and  I  wish, 
as  I  have  much  to  say,  to  write  you  a  long  letter  ;  but  that  is  not  in 

*  Dedication  of  the  "  Account  of  tlie  Life  and  Character  of  James  Hay 
"  Beattie,"  p.  vii. 

f  I  have  said,  tliat  the  volume  was  orig'inally  printed  at  Dr  Beattie's  ex- 
pense, and  only  distributed  among  liis  friends  Tiiose  pieces  of  his  son's, 
however,  so  printed,  tosyether  witii  the  account  of  his  Ufe  and  character,  have 
since  been  published  for  sale  in  London,  as  a  second  volume  of  an  edition  of 
his  own  poetical  works,  publislied  under  his  authority  in  the  year  1799. 


460  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

my  power  at  present.  There  is  only  one  subject  on  which  I  can 
think  ;*  and  my  nerves  are  so  shattered,  and  my  mind  feels  (if  I 
may  so  express  myself)  so  sore,  that  I  can  hardly  attend  to  any 
thing.  You  may  be  assured,  that  to  the  will  of  God  I  am  perfectly 
resigned  :  and,  in  the  late  dispensation  of  his  Providence,  I  see  in- 
numerable instances  of  the  divine  benignity,  for  which  I  can  never 
be  sufficiently  thankful. 

"  Mr  ******  would  tell  you  many  particulars,  which  I  need  not 
recapitulate.  Since  the  last  duty  was  paid,  I  have  thrice  a-day  at- 
tended my  business  in  the  college  ;  the  doing  of  which  is,  in  the 
present  circumstances,  painful  and  laborious,  but  perhaps  salutary. 
I  sleep  irregularly  ;  tlie  pain  in  my  side  is  frequently  troublesome  ; 
and  the  dizziness  of  my  head  is  so  great,  as  would  alarm  and  asto- 
nish me,  if  I  had  not  been  used  to  it :  but,  upon  the  whole,  I  am  as 
well  as  I  had  any  reason  to  expect.  I  have  had  very  kind  letters  of 
condolence  from  all  my  friends. 

"  I  know  not  whether  you  will,  as  a  physician,  approve  of  what 
I  am  doing  at  my  hours  of  leisure — writing  an  account  of  the  life, 
character,  education,  and  literary  proficiency,  of  our  departed 
fi'iend.  I  sometimes  think  it  gives  relief  to  my  mind,  and  sooths 
it.  At  any  rate,  it  is  better  than  running  into  company,  in  order  to 
drive  him,  as  much  as  possible  out  of  my  remembrance.  With  all 
the  tenderness  that  wxuting  on  such  a  subject  necessai'ily  occasions, 
it  yields  also  many  consolations  so  pleasing,  that  for  the  world  I 
would  not  part  with  them.  I  know  not  what  I  shall  do  with  this 
narrative  when  it  is  finished:  I  have  thoughts  of  printing  a  few 
copies  of  it,  and  sending  them  to  my  particular  friends, 

"  I  have  ordered  a  marble  slab  to  be  erected  over  his  grave  ; 
with  an  inscription,  of  which  I  inclose  a  copy.  In  some  things  I 
think  it  falls  below  the  truth  ;  but  rises  in  nothing  above  it,  so  far 
as  I  can  judge.  Monumental  inscriptions  I  consider  as  belongingi 
not  to  poetry,  but  to  history  ;  the  writers  of  them  should  give  the 
truth,  if  possible  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  I 
wrote  this  inscription  in  Latin  ;  thinking  that  language  more  suit- 
able, than  English,  to  his  character  as  a  scholar  and  philosopher. 
The  papers  he  has  left  are  many  ;  but  few  of  them  finished.  In 
little  notes  and  memorandums,  some  Latin  and  some  English,  I 

*  The  recent  loss  of  his  eldest  son. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  461 

find  strokes  of  character  greatly  to  his  honour,  forms  of  devotion, 
pious  resolutions,  hints  for  writing  essays,  &c." 


LETTER  CCXXL 


OR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Aberdeen,  31st  January,  1791. 

"  MY  heart  is  likely  to  receive  very  soon  another  deep  wound. 
Our  Principal's  life  is  in  the  most  extreme  danger.  The  disorder 
began  with  what  was  supposed  a  cold  only,  but  has  become  a  most 
violent  asthma  with  fever,  and  in  the  night-time  such  extreme  dis- 
tress, that  Mrs  Campbell  told  me  to-day,  in  an  agony  of  grief,  that 
it  would  be  better  for  him  to  be  at  rest.  This  morning  he  express- 
ed great  anxiety  to  see  me.  I  went  immediately,  and  was  a  quar- 
ter-of-an-hour  alone  with  him.  He  told  me  he  was  dying ;  with 
other  matters  which  I  cannot  mention  ;  and  gave  me  directions  with 
respect  to  some  things  in  which  he  is  interested.  I  endeavoured  to 
raise  his  spirits  ;  and  when  I  left  him,  he  was  better  than  when  I 
went  in.  But  Dr  *****  has  little  or  no  hopes  of  him:  Mrs  Camp- 
bell has  none.  I  thought  his  pulse  not  bad  ;  but  he  told  me  he 
bad  always  a  very  slow  pulse.  A  person  so  amiable  and  so  valua- 
ble, and  who  has  been  my  intimate  and  affectionate  friend  for  thirty 
years,  it  is  not  a  slight  matter  to  lose  :  but  I  fear  1  must  lose  him. 
His  death  will  be  an  unspeakable  loss  to  our  society. 

"  The  monument,  with  the  inscription,  is  now  erected  in  the 
chUrch-yard  ;  so  that  all  that  matter  is  over.  I  often  dream  of  the 
grave  that  is  under  it :  I  saw  with  some  satisfaction,  on  a  late  oc- 
casion, that  it  is  very  deep,  and  capable  of  holding  my  coflRn  laid  on 
that  which  is  already  in  it.  I  hope  my  friends  will  allow  my  body 
fo  sleep  there."* 

*  See  p.  15. 


462  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

The  inscription  is  as  follows : 

JACOBO.  HAY.  BEATTIE.  JACOBI.  F, 

P/tilos.  in.  Acad.  Marischal.  Professori. 

jidolescenti. 

Ea.  Modestia. 

Ma.  Siiavitate.  Morum. 

Ma.  Benevolentia.  erga.  omyies. 

Ma.  erga.  Deum.  Fietate. 

Ut.  Humanum.  nihil,  sufira. 

In.  Bonis.  Literis. 

In.  Theologia. 

In.  omni.  Philosofihia. 

Mxercitatissimo. 

Poetx.  insufier. 

Rebus,  in.  Lei.<ioribus.  faceto. 

In.  Grandioribus.  Sub/imi. 

Qui.  Placidam.  Aniinam.  efflavit. 

XIX.  Movemb.  MDCCXC. 

Annas,  habe^is.  XXII.  Diesque.  XIII. 

Pater,  moerens.  H.  M.  P. 


LETTER  CCXXIL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  3Ist  January,  1791. 

"  I  HAVE  too  often  sent  you  letters  that  must  have  given- 
you  pain  :  I  am  happy  in  having  it  in  my  power  to  send  one 
that  will  give  you  pleasure.  I  beg  you  will  let  Mr  Baron  Gordon 
and  Mr  Arbuthnot  know  the  contents  of  it. 

"  Our  Principal  Campbell's  disorder  has  taken  an  imexpected 
and  very  favourable  turn.  I  sat  with  him  half-an-hour  to-day,  and 
found,  to  my  inexpi'essible  satisfaction,  that  his  fever  is  gone,  that 
he  has  little  to  complain  of,  and  that  he  now  begins  to  have  hopes 
of  recovery.     I  have  seldom  seen  him  more  cheerful :    and  he 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  463 

would  willingly  have  talked  much  more  than  I  would  allow  him  to 
do.  Few  things  have  ever  happened  to  me  in  life  that  gave  me 
more  satisfaction  than  the  prospect  of  his  recovery.  It  is  a  bless- 
ing to  the  public,  of  inestimable  benefit  to  Marischal  College,  and  to 
me  a  very  singular  mercy.  In  consequence  of  it,  I  feel  my  heart 
more  disengaged  and  light,  than  it  has  been  this  many  long  months. 
May  God  confirm  his  recovery,  and  preserve  him!  The  physicians 
both  entertain  sanguine  hopes. 

"  You,  my  dear  sir,  and  I,  have  seen  several  instances  of  the 
power  of  Christianity  in  triumphing  over  death.  I  saw  many  in- 
stances of  it  on  a  late  occasion,  that  nearly  affected  me.  I  must 
give  you  a  little  anecdote,  which  Mrs  Campbell  told  me  to-day : 
At  a  time  when  Dr  Campbell  seemed  to  be  just  expiring,  and  had 
told  his  wife  and  niece  that  it  was  so,  a  cordial  happened  unexpect- 
edly to  give  him  relief.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  speak,  he  said, 
that  he  wondered  to  see  their  countenances  so  melancholy,  and 
covered  witli  tears,  in  the  apprehension  of  his  departure.  At,  that 
instant,  said  he,  I  felt  my  mind  in  such  a  state,  in  the  thoughts  of 
my  immediate  dissolution,  that  I  can  express  my  feelings  in  no 
other  way,  than  by  saying,  that  I  was  in  a  rapture.  The  feelings 
of  such  a  mind  as  Dr  Campbell's,  in  such  an  awful  moment,  when 
he  certainly  retained  the  full  use  of  all  his  faculties,  deserve  to 
be  attended  to.     When  will  an  infidel  die  such  a  death ! 

"  I  have  a  thousand  things  to  say  ;  but  after  what  I  said  last, 
every  thing  else  is  impertinent.  Adieu.  May  God  bless  Lady 
Forbes  and  your  family." 


LETTER  CCXXIIL 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  GORDON. 


'  Aberdeen,  7th  March,  1791. 

"  AFTER  the  patient  hearing  which  your  Grace  has  done 
me  the  honour  to  gi-ant  to  several  of  my  opinions,  I  presume  you 
will  not  be  at  a  loss  to  guess  what  I  think  of  Mr  Burke's  book  on 
the  French  revolution.     I  wished  the  French  nation  very  Avell ;  I 


464  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

wished  their  government  reformed,  and  their  religion  ;  I  wished 
both  to  be  according  to  the  British  model ;  and  1  know  not  "what 
better  things  I  could  have  wished  them.  But  (with  the  skill  and 
temper  of  that  surgeon,  who,  in  order  to  alleviate  the  toothach, 
should  knock  all  his  patient's  teeth  down  his  throat)  they,  instead  of 
reforming  popery,  seem  to  have  resolved  upon  the  abolition  of 
Christianity  ;  instead  of  amending  their  government,  they  have 
destroyed  it ;  and,  instead  of  advising  their  King  to  consult  his 
own  and  his  people's  dignity,  by  making  law  the  rule  of  his  conduct, 
tbey  have  used  him  much  more  cruelly  than  our  Charles  I.  was 
used  ;  they  have  made  him  a  prisoner  and  a  slave. 

"  They  will  have  a  democracy  indeed,  and  no  aristocracy  ! 
They  know  not  the  meaning  of  the  words.  A  democracy,  in  which 
all  men  are  supposed  to  be  perfectly  equal,  never  yet  took  place  in 
any  nation  ;  and  never  can,  so  long  as  the  distinctions  are  acknow- 
ledged, of  rich  and  poor,  master  and  servant,  parent  and  child,  old 
and  yoimg,  stiXHig  and  weak,  active  and  indolent,  wise  and  unwise. 
They  will  have  a  republic  ;  and  of  this  word  too  they  misunder- 
stand the  meaning  ;  they  confound  republic  with  levelling  :  and  a 
levelling  spiritj  generally  diffused,  would  soon  overturn  the  best 
republican  fabric  that  ever  was  reared.  They  must  also  have  a 
monarchy  (or  at  least  a  monarch)  without  nobility  ;  not  knowing, 
that  without  nobility  a  free  monarch  can  no  more  subsist,  than  the 
roof  of  a  house  can  rise  to  and  retain  its  proper  elevation,  while  the 
walls  are  but  half-built ;  not  knowing,  that  where  there  are  only 
two  orders  of  people  in  a  nation,  and  those  the  regal  and  the  ple- 
beian, there  must  be  perpetual  dissension  between  them,^  either  till 
the  king  get  the  better  of  the  people,  which  will  make  him  (if  he 
pleases)  despotical,  or  till  the  people  get  the  better  of  the  king, 
which,  where  all  subordination  is  abolished,  must  introduce  anarchy. 
It  must  be  the  interest  of  the  nobility  to  keep  the  people  in  good 
humour,  these  being  always  a  most  formidable  body  ;  and  it  is 
equally  the  interest  of  the  nobles  to  support  the  throne  ;  for  if  it  fall 
they  are  crushed  in  its  ruins.  The  same  House  of  Commons  that 
murdered  Charles  I.  voted  the  House  of  Lords  to  be  useless :  and 
when  the  rabble  of  France  had  imprisoned  and  enslaved  their  King, 
they  immediately  set  about  annihilating  their  nobles.  Such  things 
have  happened  ;  and  such  things  must  always  happen  in  like  cir- 
cumstances.    These  principles  I  have  been  pondering  in  my  mind 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  465 

these  thirty  years  ;  and  the  more  I  learn  of  history,  of  law,  and  of 
human  nature,  the  more  I  become  satisfied  of  their  truth.  But 
there  seems  to  be  just  now  in  France  such  a  total  ignorance  of 
human  nature  and  of  good  learning,  as  is  perfectly  astonishing  ; 
there  is  no  consideration,  no  simplicity,  no  dignity  ;  all  is  froth, 
phrensy,  and  foppery. 

"  In  Mr  Burke's  book  are  many  expressions,  that  might  perhaps, 
with  equal  propriety,  have  been  less  warm  :  but  against  these  it  is 
not  easy  to  guard  when  a  powerful  eloquence  is  animated  by  an  ar- 
dent mind.  There  are  also,  no  doubt,  some  things  that  might  have 
been  omitted  without  loss :  and  the  arrangement  of  the  subject 
might  perhaps  have  been  made  more  convenient  for  ordinary  read- 
ers. But  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  work,  I,  as  a  lover  of  my 
King,  and  of  the  constitution  of  my  country,  do  highly  approve; 
and  within  my  very  narrow  circle  of  influence,  I  shall  not  fail  to  re- 
commend it.  It  came  very  seasonably  ;  at  a  time,  when  a  consi- 
derable paity  among  us  are  labouring  to  introduce  into  this  island 
the  anarchy  of  France  ;  and  when  some  seem  to  entertain  the  hope, 
that  the  carnage  of  civil  war  will  soon  deluge  our  streets  in  blood  : 
but  no  matter,  say  they,  provided  Kings,  and  nobles,  and  bishops, 
are  exterminated  ;  and  Mahometans,  Pagans,  and  atheists,  obtain 
universal  toleration. 

"  I  once  intended  to  have  attempted  to  write  something  on  the 
subject  of  Mr  Burke's  book,  and  nearly  according  to  his  plan  :  and 
had  my  mind  been  a  little  more  at  ease  during  the  last  summer,  I 
believe  I  should  have  done  it.  But  vv^hen  I  heard  that  Mr  Burke 
had  the  matter  in  hand,  I  knew  any  attempt  of  mine  would  be  not 
only  useless,  but  impertinent.  He  has  done  the  subject  infinitely 
more  justice  than  it  was  in  my  power  to  do. 

"  At  a  time  when  your  Grace  has  so  many  matters  of  import- 
ance to  attend  to,  I  would  not  have  troubled  you  with  so  long  a  let- 
ter, if  you  had  not  desired  me  to  give  my  opinion  of  Mr  Burke's 
book.  But  this  led  me  into  some  digressions  ;  which,  though 
your  judgment  may  blame,  I  know  your  goodness  will  pardon.'* 


3n 


466  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE> 


LETTER   CCXXIV. 

t>R   BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Fulham  Palace,  7th  June,  1791. 

"  THE  Bishop  of  London,  who  brought  me  out  of  town  o« 
Saturday  last,  urges  me  to  go  to  Bath  ;  in  which  he  is  joined  by 
Miss  Hannah  More,  who  is  here  just  now,  though  she  commonly 
resides  at  Bath.  She  is  to  draw  up  a  paper  of  directions  for  me. 
I  know  not  whether  you  have  seen  her.  She  is  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  women  I  know  :  to  her  genius  and  learning  *  you  are  no 
stranger. 

"  Fulham  Palace  is  a  noble  and  venerable  pile,  and  so  large  that 
I  have  not  yet  learned  to  find  my  way  in  it.  The  gi'ounds  belong- 
ing to  it,  which  are  perfectly  level,  and  comprehend  twenty  or  thir- 
ty acres,  are  of  a  circular  form  nearly,  and  surrounded  by  a  moat 
supplied  with  water  from  the  Thames  ;  and  round  the  whole  cir- 
cumference, on  the  inside  of  the  moat,  there  is  a  fine  gravel  walk 
shaded  with  four  or  five  rows  of  the  most  majestic  oaks,  elms.  Sec. 
that  are  any  where  to  be  seen.  Of  the  buildings,  which  form  two 
square  courts,  (besides  offices)  some  are  ancient,  and  some  compa- 
ratively modern.  Many  of  the  apartments  are  magnificent,  par- 
ticularly the  dining  room  (which  was  the  work  of  Bishop  Sherlock) 
and  the  library.  There  is  also  a  very  elegant  chapel,  in  which  the 
whole  family  meet  to  prayers,  at  half  past  nine  in  the  morning,  and 
where  the  Bishop  preached  to  us  oi>  Sunday  evening,  from  the  se- 
cond article  of  the  creed.  I  never  heard,  even  from  him,  a  finer 
sermon  ;  and  Montagu,  who  is  a  sort  of  critic  in  sermons,  was  in 
utter  astonishment  at  the  energy  and  elegance  of  his  pronunciation. 

"  I  read  yesterday  the  debate  on  the  slave  trade,  which  fills  a 
two-shilling  pram.phlet.  The  speeches  of  Mr  Wilberforce,  Mr  Pitt, 
Mr  W.  Smith,  and  Mr  Fox,  are  most  excellent,  and  absolutely  un- 
answerable. The  friends  to  the  abolition  are  very  sanguine  in 
their  hopes,  that  this  diabolical  commerce  will  in  two  or  three  years 
be  at  an  end." 

See  p.  145,  377. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  467 


LETTER  CCXXV. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Fulham  Palace,  8th  June,  1791. 

"  I  KNOW  you  will  be  very  anxious  to  hear  good  accounts 
of  my  health,  and  I  wish  I  could  send  you  such  ;  but  that  is  very 
far  from  being  the  case.     I  left  Aberdeen  the  1 6th  of  April,  and  in 
a  week,  for  I  went  very  slowly,  got  to  Edinburgh,  where  I  remain- 
ed three  weeks,  during  all  which  time  we  had  from  the  east  very 
cold  and  stormy  weather.     The  journey  from  Edinburgh  to  Lon- 
don was  the  work  of  nine  days  ;  for  on  account  of  my  health  I  still 
went  slowly,  seldom  above  fifty  miles  a-day,  though  the  roads  were 
the  finest  that  can  be.     On  my  arrival  in  London,  the  wind  settled 
in  the  east,  where  it  has  been  ever  since  ;   and  the  weather,  from 
being  cold  and  stormy,  became  and  still  continues  to  be,  unsupport- 
ably  hot.     Violent  heat  and  east  wind  will  either  of  them,  beat 
down  my  strength  at  any  time  :  think  then  what  I  suffered,  when 
both  came  upon  me  at  once,  enforced  by  the  stifling  at«iosphere  of 
London.     I  lost  all  my  strength,  and  all  the  spirit  that  remained 
with  me.     The  day  after  my  arrival,  I  dined  with  Mrs  Montagu, 
and  her  amiable  nephew  and  niece,  and  introduced  Montagu  to  his 
godmother,  who  gave  him  as  affectionate  a  reception  as  if  he  had 
been  her  own  son,  and  seemed  to  be  (indeed  she  told  me  she  was) 
much  pleased  with  his  appearance  and  behaviour.     Every  body  he 
has  seen  is  kind  to  him,   and  he  very  soon  becomes  acquainted 
wherever  he  is.     We  lodged  ten  days  with  our  friends  Mr  and 
Mrs  ******,  who  showed  us  the  utmost  attention  and  kindness,  and 
with  whom  we  should  have  still  been,  if  the  Bishop  of  London  had 
not  on  Saturday  last  brought  us  to  this  place,  which  is  his  summer 
residence.      It  is  indeed  a  noble  and  venerable  mansion,  five  miles 
from  town,  on  the  brink  of  the  Thames,  and  situated  in  a  spacious 
lawn,  surrounded  with  rows  of  the  most  majestic  elms  and  oaks, 
Sec.  that  are  any  where  to  be  seen.     I  may  liave  told  you,  that  our 


468  'LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

friend  ******'s  house  is  within  a  hundred  yards  of  Westminster 
Abbey.  Notwithstanding  this,  and  that  the  commemoration  music 
was  going  on  at  the  time  we  were  there,  in  the  presence  of  the 
King  and  Royal  Family,  and  some  thousands  of  the  first  people  of 
the  kingdom,  and  conducted  by  the  greatest  bandjof  musicians  that 
ever  were  brought  together  in  this  world  ;  and  though  the  music 
was  Handel's  (for  his  Majesty  hears  no  other  on  that  occasion),  yet 
my  health  was  such,  that  I  could  not  go  to  it.  Perhaps  this  was 
no  loss  to  me.  Even  the  organ  of  Durham  cathedral  was  too  much 
for  my  feelings:  for  it  brought  too  powerfully  to  my  i^emembrance 
another  organ,  much  smaller  indeed,  but  more  interesting,  which 
I  can  never  hear  any  more."* 


LETTER  CCXXVI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 


Fiuliam  Palace,  SOtli  June,  1791. 

"  I  AM  favoured  with  yours  of  the  17th,  and  thank  you  for  eve- 
ly  part  of  it,  especially  for  that  in  which  you  give  me  so  particular 
an  account  of  Lady  Forbes,  in  whom  I  am  indeed  as  much  interest- 
ed as  I  can  be  in  any  human  being.  I  am  greatly  concerned  to 
hear  of  her  relapse;  which,  considering  the  very  untovvardly  state 
of  the  weather,  we  need  neither  wonder  nor  be  alarmed  at;  but 
now,  when  summer  and  the  west  wind  are  at  last  come,  I  am 
confident  she  will  soon  experience  a  very  sensible  change  for  the 
better,  and  gradually  regain  her  wonted  health ;  to  which  her  pla- 
cid and  cheerful  temper  will  greatly  contribute. 

"  My  health  is  better  since  I  came  hither.  To  the  tranquil- 
lity, the  fresh  air,  and  the  venerable  bowers  of  Fulham  Palace,  I 
owe  much ;  but  much  more  to  its  delightful  inhabitants,  whom  I 
cannot  leave  without  great  regret.  Among  other  pleasing  circum- 
stances, I  have  here  had  an  opportunity  of  renewing  my  acquaint- 
ance with  some  very  respectable  friends,  whom  I  was  formerly 

*  This  alludes  to  his  eldest  son's  performance  on  that  instrument. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  469 

much  connected  with,  but  had  not  seen  these  fourteen  years  ;  par- 
ticularly Lord  Viscount  Cremorne  (formerly  Lord  Dartrey)  and 
his  lady,  Mrs  Boscawen  (the  Admiral's  widow),  and  Mrs  (;iarrick, 
who,  notwithstanding  her  age,  is  still  an  elegant  woman.  I  have 
also,  once  and  again,  met  with  Mr  Horace  Walpole,  and  had  much 
conversation  with  him.*  He  is  a  very  agreeable  man,  perfectly 
well  bred,  and  of  pleasant  discourse  ;  but  it  pains  one  to  see  him  so 
miserably  martyred  by  the  gout,  both  in  his  feet  and  hands. 

"  Dining  some  days  ago  with  Lord  Guilford  f  at  Bushy  Park,  I 
unexpectedly  met  with  your  friend,  the  Bishop  of  Kilaloe,|  and  his 
son.  I  presented  your  compliments  to  the  Bishop,  who  asked 
particularly  about  Lady  Forbes  and  you,  and  desired  to  be  remem- 
bered to  you.  I  was  happy  to  find  that  Lord  Guilford,  though  he 
has  entirely  lost  his  sight,  is  in  perfect  health  and  spirits,  and  re- 
tains all  his  wonted  vivacity  and  good  humour  ;  of  which  he  indeed 
possesses  a  very  uncommon  share.  He  wears  no  fillet  on  his  eyesj 
nor  needs  any,  as  their  outward  appearance  is  not  altered  in  the 
least.  Mr  and  Lady  Katharine  Douglas§  dined  there  the  same  day, 
and  are  quite  well :  Lady  Katharine  is  a  most  agreeable  woman. 

"  Last  week  I  made  a  morning  visit  to  Mr  Pitt.||  I  had  heard 
him  spoken  of  as  a  grave  and  reserved  man ;  but  saw  nothing  of  it. 
He  gave  me  a  very  frank,  and  indeed  affectionate  reception  ;  and 
was  so  cheerful,  and  in  his  conversation  so  easy,  that  I  almost 
thought  myself  in  the  company,  rather  of  an  old  acquaintance,  than 
of  a  great  statesman.   He  was  pleased  to  pay  me  some  very  obliging 

*  The  well  known  proprietoi*  of  Strav.berry-Hill :  afterwards  Earl  of 
Orford.     He  died  2d  March,  1797,  ag-ed  seventy-nine. 

t  Formerly  Lord  North,  to  whom,  when  minister,  Dr  Beattie  had  been 
so  much  obliged  in  the  business  of  his  pension,  in  the  year  1773.  See  p.  176. 

I  Dr  Barnard,  now  Bishop  of  Limerick. 

§  Now  Lord  Glenhervie,  married  to  Lady  Katharine  North,  Lord 
Guilford's  eldest  daughter.     See  p.  106. 

II  I  lament,  for  the  sake  of  my  country  and  of  Europe,  to  have  at  the 
period  of  tills  publication,  the  melancholy  necessity  of  recording  the  death 
of  this  eminent  and  excellent  statesman.  He  died  on  the  23d  January,  1806, 
at  the  early  age  of  forty- six. 


470  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

compliments,  asked  about  my  health,  and  how  I  meant  to  pa^s  the 
summer  ;  spoke  of  the  Dutchess  of  Gordon,  the  improvements  of 
Edinburgh,  and  various  other  matters :  and  w^hen  I  told  him,  I 
knevr  not  what  apology  to  make  for  intruding  upon  him,  said,  that 
no  apology  was  necessary,  for  that  he  Avas  very  glad  to  see  me,  and 
desired  to  see  me  again." 


LETTER  CCXXVII. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  MISS  VALENTINE. 

Sandleford,  Berkslure,  2nh  July,  1791. 

"  BATH  is  a  town  about  twice  as  large  as  Aberdeen,  and 
situated  in  the  bottom  of  a  deep  and  narrow  valley,  overhung  with 
steep  hills  on  every  side  ;  so  that  there  is  hardly  such  a  thing  to  be 
felt  there  as  a  fresh  breeze.  The  soil  is  white  chalk,  which  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground  is  pounded,  by  the  feet  of  animals,  and  the 
wheels  of  carriages,  into  a  fine  powder,  which,  in  dry  weather,  is 
continually  flying  about,  and  drawn  in  with  the  breath,  proved  most 
offensive  to  my  lungs,  though  they  are  not  easily  afiFected  ;  in  wet 
weather  it  covers  all  the  level  and  narrow  streets  with  a  deep  mire. 
The  heat  of  the  place  is,  as  you  will  readily  suppose,  very  great  ; 
and  the  air  much  more  close  and  stifling  than  that  of  London, 
Some  of  the  streets  are,  in  respect  of  architecture,  very  elegant,  if 
they  be  not  too  gaudy  and  too  much  ornainented  ;  but,  on  the 
■whole,  it  is  an  irregular  and  very  inconvenient  town.  Being  all 
built  of  free-stone,  (an  uncommon  thing  in  England)  it  has  more 
the  air  of  a  Scotch  town  than  of  an  English  one ;  the  English 
towns  being  for  the  most  part  of  brick;  audit  put  me  more  in  mind 
of  Edinburgh  than  any  othei'  place  I  have  seen.  Montagu  will 
tell  you  more  of  it  hereafter.  The  water  of  the  pump,  at  least  of 
that  pump  at  which  I  was  desired  to  drink,  is  so  warm  as  to  raise 
the  mercury  in  the  thermometer  to  103  :  The  common  fountain- 
water  is  clear  and  cool,  and  indeed  very  good. 

"  At  Bath,  though  my  stay  was  so  short,  I  met  with  some  very 
agreeable  people,  particularly  two  ladies  (to  whom  I  was  recom- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  471 

mended  by  Miss  Hannah  More),  and  Mr  Wilberforce.*  This  gentle- 
man, whom  you  know  I  was  very  anxious  to  see,  is  for  those  virtues 
that  most  adorn  human  nature,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  cha- 
racters of  the  age  ;  and  withal  a  man  of  great  wit,  cheerful  con- 
versation, exemplary  piety,  and  uncommon  abilities  ;  I  am  sorry 
to  see  he  is  not  robust ;  I  am  afraid  his  health  is  too  delicate.  I 
was  with  him  part  of  three  days.  He  is  very  partial  to  me,  and 
showed  me  every  possible  attention,  and  was  very  kind  to  Montagu." 


In  the  year  1790,t  Dr  Beattie  had  published  the  first  volume 
of  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science ;"  the  second  volume  did  not 
make  its  appearance  until  the  year  1793.  In  an  advertisement 
prefixed  to  the  first  volume,  he  infoi'ms  us,  that  they  contain  an 
Abridgment,  and,  for  the  most  part,  a  very  brief  one,  of  his  Lec- 
tures on  Moral  Philosophy  and  Logic,  delivered  in  Marischal  Col- 
lege. It  had  long  been  his  practice,  he  says,  with  a  view  of  assist- 
ing the  memory  of  his  hearers,  to  make  them  wi'ite  notes  of  each 
discourse.  This  practice,  although  it  strongly  evinces  Dr  Beattie's 
great  attention  to  the  instruction  of  his  pupils,  was  not  Avithout  its 
disadvantages,  both  to  them  and  to  himself. 

As  these  notes  were  written  in  the  lecture-room,  many  hours 
were  necessarily  consumed  in  that  manner,  which  might  have  been 

*  William  Wilberforce,  Esq.  M.  P.  for  the  county  of  York,  the  strenii- 
pus  promoter,  in  the  House  of  commons,  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  v 
author  of  "  A  Practical  View  of  the  prevailing  Religious  System  of  profess- 
*'  ed  Christians  in  the  higher  and  middle  classes  in  this  Country,  contrasted 
"  with  real  Christianity." 

■f  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  Jiere  a  circumstance  respecting  the  pub- 
lication of  tiie  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science,"  very  much  to  the  credit  of  Dr 
Beattie.  On  his  writing  to  me  to  dispose  of  the  Manuscript,  to  be  printed 
in  octavo,  I  applied  to  his  Bookseller,  who  made  offer  of  a  sum  of  monej' 
for  the  copy-right ;  adding,  however,  tiiat  he  could  afford  to  give  more  if 
the  book  were  to  be  printed  in  quarto.  On  my  mentioning  this  to  Dr  Beat- 
tie,  he  immediately  answered,  "  No  ;  I  do  not  wish,  for  the  sake  of  profit  to 
*'  myself,  to  increase  the  price  to  my  students,  many  of  whom  can  but  ill 
"  aftbrd  to  purchase  an  expensive  publication."  It  accordingly  ncrer  has 
been  printed  in  quarto. 


472  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

more  usefully  employed  in  listening  to  the  teacher.  As  they  were 
also  written  in  haste,  they  were  very  often  inaccurate  ;  and,  by  an 
unavoidable  consequence,  many  manuscript  copies  had  got  into 
the  world,  and  even  some  part  into  print,  incomplete,  as  well  as  in- 
correct, with  more  imperfections,  says  Dr  Beattie,  than  could  rea- 
sonably be  imputed  to  the  author.  To  remedy  both  these  evils 
he  was  intreated  to  publish  these  notes  himself,  and  thus  put  it  in 
the  power  of  his  students  to  procure  correct  copies  of  the  whole 
summary,  a  little  enlarged  in  the  doctrinal  parts,  and  with  the  ad- 
dition of  a  few  illustrative  examples.  Such  is  the  account  Dr  Beat- 
tie  gives  of  the  publication  of  his  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science." 
He  adds  farther,  in  the  same  advertisement,  that  he  presumes  no- 
body will  be  offended,  if  in  these  papers  there  be  found,  as  there 
certainly  will,  numberless  thoughts  and  arguments,  which  may 
be  found  elsewhere.  It  v/ill  be  considered,  he  says,  that  as  a  pro- 
fessed province  is  generally  assigned  him  by  public  authority,  his 
business  is  rather  to  collect  and  arrange  his  materials,  than  to  in- 
vent or  make  them.  In  his  illustrations,  in  order  to  render  what 
he  teaches  as  perspicuous  and  entertaining  as  possible,  he  may 
give  ample  scope  to  his  inventive  powers  ;  but  in  preparing  a  sum- 
mary of  his  principles,  he  will  be  more  solicitous  to  make  a  collec- 
tion of  useful  truths,  however  old,  than  to  amuse  his  readers  with 
paradox,  and  theories  of  his  own  contrivance.  And  let  it  be  con- 
sidered farther,  he  adds,  that  as  all  the  practical,  and  most  of  the 
speculative,  parts  of  moral  science,  have  been  frequently  and  ful- 
ly explained  by  the  ablest  writers,  he  would,  if  he  should  affect  no- 
velty in  these  matters,  neither  do  justice  to  his  subject,  nor  easily 
clear  himself  from  the  charge  of  ostentation. 

Notwithstanding  this  modest  declaration  on  the  part  of  the  au- 
thor, we  should  do  great  injustice  to  the  work,  were  we  to  sup- 
pose it  to  be  no  more  than  a  mere  prospectus  or  syllabus  of  a  course 
of  lectures  on  moral  philosophy.  In  a  certain  degree,  no  doubt, 
it  may  be  considered  as  a  text-book  ;  but  in  general  so  copious,  so 
luminous  in  the  arrangement,  so  perspicuous  in  the  language,  and 
so  excellent  in  the  "sentiments  it  every  where  inculcates,  that  if  the 
profound  metaphysician  and  logician  do  not  find  in  it  that  depth 
of  science  which  they  may  expect  to  meet  with  in  other  works  of 
greater  erudition,  the  candid  inquirer  after  truth  may  rest  satisfied, 
that  if  he  has  studied  these  "  Elements"  Mith  due  attention,  he 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  4^3 

will  have  laid  a  solid  foundation,  on  which  to  build  all  the  know- 
ledge of  the  subject  necessary  for  the  common  purposes  of  life. 
Some  of  the  topics  are  no  doubt  treated  with  more,  some  with  less, 
brevity.  Of  such  of  the  lectures  as  have  already,  under  the  name 
of  "  Essays,"  been  published  in  the  same  form  in  which  they  were 
at  first  composed,  particularly  those  on  "  The  Theory  of  Lan- 
**■  guage,"  and  "  On  Memory,  and  Imagination,"  Dr  Beattie  has 
made  this  abridgment  as  brief  as  was  consistent  with  any  degree  of 
perspicuity  ;  while  he  has  bestowed  no  less  than  seventy  pages  on 
his  favourite  topic^  the  Abolitio7i  of  the  Sla-uc'tracle,  and  the  subjects 
©f  Slavery  connected  with  it.  On  the  Slave-trade,  indeed,  Dr  Beat- 
tie  felt  the  strongest  and  warmest  interest  in  favour  of  the  poor 
Africans  ;  and  he  had  employed  himself,  during  five-and-twenty 
years,  in  collecting  materials  and  information  for  the  purpose  of 
writing  and  publishing  an  essay  in  behalf  of  that  unhappy  people. 
In  the  mean  time,  he  contrived  to  interweave  into  his  lectures 
much  of  the  substance  of  his  projected  essay  ;  and  while  the  busi- 
ness was  pending  in  Parliament,  and  he  waited  with  anxious  ex- 
pectation the  success  of  the  efforts  of  Mr  Wilberforce  and  his 
friends  towards  effecting  the  abolition  of  the  trade,  Dr  Beattie  com- 
forted himself  with  the  reflection,  not  only  that  he  was  doing  his 
duty,  by  raising  his  voice  against  the  traffic,  but  that  many  of  his 
pupils  in  the  variovis  vicissitudes  of  life,  being  led  to  the  West  In- 
dies, might  carry  his  principles  with  them  ;  and  thus  contribute, 
in  a  certain  degree,  to  improve  the  unhappy  condition  of  the  ne- 
groes in  our  colonies.*  His  "  Essay  on  Slavery,"  however,  was 
never  published  :  nor  do  I  find  any  other  trace  of  it  among  his  pa^ 
pers,  than  what  is  to  be  met  with  in  this  summary  of  his  lectures 
on  the  subject. 

Dr  Beattie  has  divided  his  course  of  lectures  into  four  parts, 
viz.  Psijc/iologij,  JVatural  Theology,  Moral  Philoso/ihij,  and  Logic. 
These,  again,  he  has  subdivided  into  a  variety  of  subordinate  parts. 
Under  the  first  part,  he  has  treated  of  the  Perceptive  Faculties,  and 
of  the  Active  Powers  of  Man.  In  the  second,  or  that  on  N'atural 
Theology,  he  has  devoted  two  chapters  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Divine  Existence  and  Divine  Attributes ;  the  proofs  of  which  he 
deduces  from  what  we  feel  within  ourselves,  and  what  we  perceive 

*  See  p.  242. 
."  o 


474,  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

in  contemplating  created  nature  around  us.  To  this  he  has  added 
an  appendix  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  His 
second  volume,  or  that  division  of  his  subject  which  comprehends 
Moral  F/iiloso/ihy,  commences  vv^ith  Ethics.^  under  which  head  he 
gives  a  general  delineation  of  virtue,  as  well  as  of  the  nature  and 
foundation  of  particular  virtues,  comprehending  those  duties  whicli 
we  owe  to  God,  to  one  another,  and  to  ourselves.  Economics  then 
follow,  comprehending  the  relative  duties  of  life  ;  in  which  part  it 
is,  that  he  takes  occasion  to  treat  so  largely  of  Slavery,  and  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  negroes.  The  third  part  contains  two  chap- 
ters on  the  General  Nature  of  Law,  and  the  Origin  and  Nature  of 
Civil  Government.  To  this  succeeds  Logic,  comprehending  B/ic- 
toric  and  Belles  Lettres,  and  containing  much  beautiful  and  valua- 
ble criticism  on  style  and  composition  of  various  sorts  ;  which  he 
who  wishes  to  form  a  good  style,  and  to  excel  in  composition  of 
any  kind,  either  prose  or  verse,  will  do  well  to  study  with  atten- 
tion.*    The  whole  is  concluded  by  some  Remarks  on  Evidence. 

To  give  a  more  copious  analysis  is  not  necessary  here,  as  those 
who  wish  to  be  better  acquainted  with  the  work,  will  naturally  have 
recourse  to  the  book  itself;  which  they  will  find  to  contain  the 
most  interesting  truths,  explained  in  a  popular  but  convincing 
manner,  in  which  elegance,  variety,  and  harmony  of  style,  ai'e 
united  with  simplicity,  and  the  subjects  illustrated  by  familiar 
allusions  to  history  and  common  life,  in  such  a  manner  as  may  not 
only  amuse  the  fancy,  but  instruct  the  understanding,  and  improve 
the  heart. 

But  there  is  one  excellence  of  Dr  Beattie's  "  Lectures  on 
"  Moral  Philosophy,"  on  which  I  cannot  but  dwell  with  peculiar 
emphasis  ;  and  that  is,  his  happy  manner  of  fortifying  his  argu- 
ments from  natural  religion,  on  the  most  important  points,  by  the 
aid  of  revelation.  While  he  details,  witk  precision,  the  proofs 
which  natural  reason  alone  affords,  he  never  omits  any  proper  op- 
portunity of  appealing  to  revelation  in  support  of  his  doctrine, 
sometimes  in  the  very  words  of  Scripture,  at  other  times  by  a 
general  refeience  to  the  subject,  as  it  is  to  be  learned  there  ;  thus 

•  The  diligent  student,  however,  will  not  content  himself  with  this 
abridgment,  but  will  carefully  peruse  what  is  said  at  large  on  the  head,  in 
Dr  Beattie's  Essays  and  Dissertations  on  "  Poetry,"  and  "  The  Theory  of 
**  Language." 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  47i 

making  them  mutually  support  and  strengthen  each  other,  as 
ought  ever  to  be  the  study  of  every  teacher  of  ethics.  Dr  Beattie 
is,  therefore,  justly  entitled  to  the  most  distinguished  of  all  appel- 
lations, that  of  A  Chuistian  Moral  Philosopher.* 

*  An  eminent  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  Dr  Ferguson,  whose 
"  Lectures,"  delivered  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  have  been  publish- 
ed since  he  resigned  his  chair,  has  the  following  observation  : 

•'  It  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  why  he  (the  Professor)  should  restrict  his 
"  argument,  as  he  has  done,  to  the  mei-e  topics  of  Natural  Religion  and  Rea- 
"  son  ?  This,  being  the  foundation  of  every  superstructure,  whether  in  mora- 
"  lity  or  religion,  and,  therefore,  to  be  separately  treated,  he  considered  as 
"  that  part  of  the  work  which  was  allotted  to  him.  Farther  institutions  may 
"  improve,  but  cannot  supersede,  what  the  Almighty  has  revealed  in  his 
"  works,  and  in  the  suggestions  of  reason  to  man. 

"  When  first  we  from  the  teeming  womb  were  brought, 
"  With  inborn  precepts,  then'our  soids  were  fraught." 

Rowe's  Lucan,  lib.  ix.  1.  984. 

»•  And  what  the  Author  of  our  nature  has  so  taught,  must  be  considered  as 
*'  the  test  of  every  subsequent  institution  that  is  offered  as  coming  from 
•«  Him."t 

In  this  concluding  sentiment,  Dr  Ferguson  is  no  doubt  perfectly  right ; 
and  yet  I  cannot  but  presume  totally  to  differ  from  liim  in  regai'd  to  his 
maxim  of  confining  himself  to  arguments  drawn  from  natural  religion  and 
reason  alone.  The  consequences  of  such  a  mode  of  teaching  appear  to  me 
extremely  hazardous  :  for  if  the  Professor  shall  state  an  argument,  amount- 
ing to  any  strong  degree  of  probability,  which  at  the  best  is  the  utmost  he 
can  do,  there  is  danger  tliat  the  stndent  may  rest  satisfied  with  the  reason- 
ing, and,  leaving  revelation  entirely  out  of  the  question,  may  not  seek  to  carry 
his  inquiries  any  farther.  If,  on  the  contrary,  he  derive  no  solid  conviction 
from  the  use  of  mere  reasoning,  the  risk  is,  that  he  sink  into  decided  scep- 
ticism and  infidelity. 

Dr  Beattie,  on  the  contrary,  while  he  does  ample  justice  to  his  argu- 
ments from  reason,  never  loses  sight  of  the  Gospel,  as  the  so'  anchor  of  a 
Christian's  hope.  As  a  proof  of  this,  take  the  following  among  many  instan- 
ces that  mlglit  be  produced  from  the  book  now  before  us.  The  sentiments 
enforced  are  so  transccndently  beautiful,  tliat  tliey  never  can  be  out  of  place 
or  season,  wherever  they  may  be  found. 

In  his  second  cliapter  of  Natural  Theology,  speaking  of  tlie  divine  attri- 
butes, he  says  :  "  Revelation  gives  such  a  display  of  the  divine  goodness,  as 
"  must  fill  us  with  the  most  ardent  gratitude  and  adoration.     For  in  it  we 

t  Prefatory  advertisement  to  "  Principles  of  Moral  and  Political  Science,"'  by  Adam  Fer- 
guson, LL.  D.  p,  vU. 


476  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE, 


LETTER  CCXXVIIL 


nil  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESq. 

Aberdeen,  17tli  April,  1793- 

"  I  AM  very  happy  in  your  and  Mr  Fraser  Tytler's  approba- 
bation  of  my  book  ;  as  also  Sir  William  Forbes's  and  our  Princi- 
pal's) who  read  it  in  manuscript.     General  approbation  I  do  not 

"  find,  that  God  has  put  it  in  our  power,  notwithstanding  our  degeneracy 
"  and  unworthiness,  to  be  happy  both  in  this  world  and  forever;  a  hope 
"  which  reason  alone  could  never  have  permitted  us  to  entertain  on  any 
"  ground  of  certainty.  And  here  we  may  repeat  what  was  already  hinted 
"  at,  that  although  the  right  use  of  reason  supplies  our  first  notions  of  the 
"  divine  nature,  yet  it  is  from  revelation  that  we  receive  those  distinct  ideas 
"  of  His  attributes  and  providence,  which  are  the  foundation  of  our  dearest 
"  hopes.  The  most  enlightened  of  the  Heathen  had  no  certain  knowledge 
"  of  His  unity,  spirituality,  eternity,  wisdom,  justice,  or  mercy;  and,  by 
*•  consequence,  could  never  contrive  a  comfortable  system  of  natural  religion, 
"  as  Socrates  the  wisest  of  them  acknowledged."* 

In  his  lectui'e  on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul,  he  thus  introduces  tlie  sub- 
ject :  "  It  is  unnecessary  to  prove  to  a  Christian,  that  his  soul  will  never  die ; 
•'  because  he  believes,  that  life  and  immortality  have  been  brought  to  light 
'•  by  the  Gospel.  But  though  not  necessaiy,  it  may  be  useful  to  lay  before 
"  him  those  arguments,  whereby  the  immortality  of  the  soul  might  be  made 
"  appear,  even  to  those  who  never  heard  of  revelation,  probable  in  the 
"  highest  degree,"!  ^c.  Sec, 

In  treating  of  the  Divine  Attributes,  Dr  Beattie  says,  "  It  is  reasonable 
"  to  think,  that  a  Being  infinitely  good,  must  also  be  of  infinite  mercy  :  but 
"  still  the  purity  and  justice  of  God  must  convey  the  most  alarming  thoughts 
"  to  those  who  know  themselves  to  have  been,  in  instances  without  number, 
"  inexcusably  criminal.  But  from  what  is  revealed  in  Scripture,  concerning 
"  the  divine  dispensations  with  respect  to  man,  we  learn,  that  on  perform- 
"  ing  certain  conditions,  we  shall  be  forgiven  and  received  into  favour,  by 
"  means  which  at  once  display  the  divine  mercy  in  the  most  amiable  light, 
"  and  fully  vindicate  the  divine  justice. 

"  It  is  indeed  impossible  to  understand  the  doctrines  of  our  religion,  and 
"  not  to  luiib  at  least  that  they  may  be  true  :  for  they  exhibit  the  most  com- 

*  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science,"  Vol.  I.  p.  400,  t  Ibid.  p.  214, 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  477 

expect.  The  plainness  of  the  style  will,  by  our  fashionable  ■writers, 
be  termed  vulgarity  ;  the  practical  tendency  of  the  whole  will  satis* 
£y  our  speculative  metaphysicians,  that  the  author  must  be  shallow 
and  superficial,  and  a  dealer  in  common-place  observations  ;  and 
the  deference  that  is  paid  in  it  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  will, 
by  all  our  Frenchified  critics,  be  considered  as  a  pi'oof,  that  he  is 
no  philosopher.  You  observe  very  justly,  that  the  science  of  mo- 
rality has  not  often,  at  least  in  modern  times,  been  so  treated,  as 

"  fortable  views  of  God  and  his  providence ;  they  recommend  the  purest  and 
'•  most  perfect  morality;  and  they  breatlie  nothing  throughout,  but  benevo- 
"  lence,  equity,  and  peace:  and  one  may  ventui-e  to  affirm,  that  no  man. 
"  ever  <v>ished  the  Gospel  to  be  true,  who  did  not  Jind  it  so."* 

Discoursing  of  the  Nature  of  Virtue,  Dr  Beattie  says,  "  These  specula- 
"  tions  might  lead  into  a  labyrinth  of  perplexity,  if  it  were  not  for  what  re- 
**  relation  declares  concerning  the  divine  government.  It  declares,  that  man 
"  maye-xpect,  on  the  performance  of  certain  conditions,  not  only  pardon,  but 
'"  everlasting  liappiness  ;  not  on  account  of  his  own  merit,  which  in  the  sight 
"  of  God  is  nothing,  but  on  account  of  the  infinite  merits  of  the  Redeemer, 
"  who,  descending  from  the  lieight  of  glory,  voluntarily  underwent  the  pun- 
"  ishment  due  to  sin,  and  thus  obtained  those  high  privileges  for  as  many  as 
"  should  comply  with  the  terms  announced  by  him  to  mankind."!     Again, 

"  It  is  the  belief  of  a  future  state  of  retribution,  that  satisfies  the  i-ational 
"  mind  of  the  infinite  rectitude  of  the  divine  government ;  and  it  is  thisper- 
"  suasion  only,  that  can  make  the  virtuous  happy  in  the  present  life.  And 
"  if  we  could  not  without  revelation,  entertain  a  well-grounded  liope  of  fii- 
"  turo  reward,  it  is  only  the  virtue  of  the  true  Christian  that  can  obtain  the 
"  happiness  we  now  speak  of. I 

"  Though  all  men  are  sinners,  yet  some  are  highly  respectaljle  on  ac- 
"  count  of  their  goodness  ;  and  there  are  crimes  so  atrocious,  perjury  for  ex- 
**  ample,  tiiat  one  single  jierpetration  makes  a  man  infamous.  The  Scripture 
"  expressly  declares,  that,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  it  will  be  more  tolerable 
•'  for  some  criminals  than  for  others;  and  not  obscurely  insinuates,  that  the 
**  futui'e  exaltation  of  the  righteous  will  he  m  proportion  to  their  vii'tue."§ 

Speaking  of  Pietji,  or  the  Duties  loe  owe  to  God,  he  says,  "  How  far  the 
'♦  deplorable  condition  of  many  of  the  human  race,  with  respect  to  false  re- 
"  ligion,  barbai'ous  life,  and  an  exclusion,  hitherto  unsurmountable,  from  all 
•'  means  of  intellectual  Improvement,  may  extenuate,  or  whether  it  may  not, 
*•  by  virtue  of  the  great  atonement,  entirely  cancel  the  imperfection  of  those 
"  to  whom  in  this  world  God  never  was,  or  without  a  miracle  could  be, 
«*  known,  we  need  not  inquire.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know,  that  for  our 
*'  ignorance  we  can  plead  no  such  apology. "[) 

*  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science/'  Vol.  I.  p.  402.  t  Ibid.  Vol.  11.  p.  31. 

t  Ibid.  p.  39.  §  Ibid.  p.  77.  11  Ibid.  p.  80. 


478  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

to  show  its  connection  with  practice  ;  but  I  have  always  eonsidered 
morality  as  a  practical  science ;  and,  in  every  other  part  of  lite- 
rature, I  do  not  see  the  use  of  those  speculations  that  can  be  ap- 
plied to  no  practical  purpose.  It  may  be  said,  that  they  exercise 
the  human  faculties,  and  so  qualify  men  for  being  casuists  and  dis- 
putants; but  casuistry  and  disputation  are  not  the  business  for 
which  man  is  sent  into  the  world  ;  although  I  grant,  that  they 
may  sometimes,  like  dancing  and  playing  at  cards,  serve  as  an 
amusement  to  those  who  have  acquired  a  taste  for  them,  and  have 
nothing  else  to  do." 


In  the  month  of  October,  1793,  Dr  Beattie  was  much  affected 
by  the  sudden  death  of  his  favorite  sister,  Mrs  Valentine.*      She 

On  the  subject  of  Public  Worship,  he  says,  "  These  considerations  alone 
"  would  recommend  external  worsliip  as  a  most  excellent  means  of  improving 
*'  our  moral  nature.  But  Christians  know  farther,  that  tliis  duty  is  express- 
"  ly  commanded  ;  and  that  particular  blessings  are  promised  to  the  devout 
"  performance  of  it.  In  us,  therefore,  the  neglect  of  it  must  be  inexcusa- 
"  ble,  and  highly  criminal. f 

"  That  principle  which  resti'ains  malevolent  passions,  by  disposing  us  to 
*'  render  to  every  one  his  own,  is  called  justice  :  a  principle  of  great  extent, 
*'  and  which  may  not  improperly  be  said  to  form  a  part  of  every  virtue  ;  as 
"  in  every  vice  there  is  something  of  injustice  towards  God,  our  fellow  men, 
"  or  ourselves.  As  far  as  our  fellow  men  are  concerned,  the  great  rule  of 
"justice  is,  '  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye 
"  even  so  to  them  :'  a  precept  which,  in  this  its  complete  form,  we  owe  to 
"  the  Gospel ;  and  which,  for  its  clearness  and  reasonableness,  for  being 
"  easily  remembered,  and  on  all  occasions  easily  applied  to  practice,  can 
"  never  be  too  much  admired. "^: 

Such  was  the  mode  of  teaching  moral  philosophy  practised  by  Dr  Beat- 
tie,  during  the  long  course  of  upwards  of  thirty  years  in  Ids  pubhc  lectures 
at  Aberdeen.  Let  the  reader  compare  those  animating  and  comfortable 
doctrines  inculcated  by  this  excellent  writer,  with  the  cold  and  cheerless 
speculations  of  natui-al  reason  alone,  and  then  let  him  say  which  mediod 
most  deserves  the  preference,  or  is  most  likely  to  promote  the  happiness  of 
tnankind. 

*  Widow  of  Captain  John  Valentine,  who  commanded  a  mei"ehant-ve«scl 
belonging  to  the  town  of  Montrose,  where  his  family  resided. 

t "  Elements  of  Moral  Science."  Vol.  II,  p.  83.  |  X  Ibid.  p.?.8. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  479 

had  left  her  house  apparently  in  perfect  health  ;  but  havmg  been 
taken  ill  in  the  street,  was  carried  home  speechless,  and  expired  in 
a  few  days.  His  mother  had  also  died  suddenly  of  an  apoplexy.* 
From  several  of  his  letters  about  this  time,  he  appears  also  to  have 
believed  himself  to  be  dangerously  ill.  At  this  period,  indeed,  his 
health  was  so  bad,  that  he  found  himself  unequal  to  the  task  of 
teaching  his  class  as  usual :  he,  therefore,  engaged  Mr  George 
Glennie,  who  had  been  his  pupil,  to  assist  him  during  the  session 
of  the  university  1793-4.  He  continued,  however,  to  teach  his 
class  occasionally,  until  the  Gommencement  of  the  winter-session 
of  the  year  1797. 


The  Reverend  Dr  Campbell,  on  perusing  Mr  Fraser  Tytler's 
"  Essay  on  the  Principles  of  Translation,"  had  been  struck  with  a 
coincidence  of  the  author's  sentiments  in  regard  to  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  art,  with  those  general  principles,  which  he  himself  had 
briefly  laid  down  in  one  of  his  preliminary  dissertations  to  his  "  New 
"  Translation  of  the  Gospels,"  and  had  expressed  some  suspicion, 
that  the  author  of  the  "  Essay  on  Translation"  had  seen  that  disser- 
tation, which  was  published  a  short  time  before  his  essay.  Of  the 
groundlessness  of  this  suspicion,  Mr  Fraser  Tytler  very  soon  con- 
vinced  that  respectable  writer,  as  he  candidly  owned  in  the  amplest 
and  most  handsome  terms  of  apology.  The  following  passage  in 
Dr  Beattie's  letter  relates  to  this  subject. 


*  Dr  Beattie's  mother  resided,  for  several  years  before  her  death,  with 
her  son  David,  in  the  neighbourliood  of  Lawrence-kirk,  during  which  period 
Dr  Seattle  showed  her  every  mark  of  attention  in  his  power.  She  died  there 
at  a  very  advanced  age.  See  Letter  XXV.  to  Mrs  Valentine,  p.  80. 


48<^  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

LETTER  CCXXIX. 

DR  BEATTIE  TO  ALEX.  ERASER  TYTLER,  ESQ.  NOW  LORD  WOOD- 

HOUSELEE. 

Aberdeen,  17th  November,  1793. 

"  I  NEEDED  no  information  on  the  subject  of  your  last. 
As  you  had  not  mentioned  our  friend  Dr  Campbell's  "  Translation 
"  of  the  Gospels,"  or  the  critical  dissertations  prefixed  to  it,  I  was 
very  certain  that  you  had  neither  borrowed  any  thing  from  him, 
nor  even  read  that  learned  and  excellent  work  ;  and  I  told  him  so, 
and  easily  persuaded  him  that  it  was  so.  Your  letter  to  him  I  read 
very  attentively  ;  and  as  I  new  there  was  nothing  in  it  which  he 
would  or  could  disapprove,  1  sealed  and  gave  it  to  him.  He  is,  I 
assure  you,  perfectly  satisfied,  as  I  dare  say  he  has  told  you  before 
now.  On  such  a  subject  it  is  hardly  possible  that  two  men  of  sense 
and  leainiing  could  differ  in  opinion  ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  there  should  be  such  a  coincidence  of  your  sentiments  with 
his.  I  have  thought,  and  written  too,  on  the  same  subject,  and  I 
agree  most  cordially  with  you  both. 

"  You  did  me  much  honour  when  you  asked  me  to  wiite  a  short 
historical  account  of  our  dear  departed  friend,  your  father.  To  do 
so  would  be  an  agreeable  employment  to  me  ;  as  I  have  sometimes 
been  inclined  to  think,  that  next  to  the  pleasure  of  conversing  with 
a  living  friend,  is  that  of  meditating  on  the  virtues  of  a  deceased 
one.  The  last  is  indeed  a  melancholy  pleasure,  but  is  not  perhaps 
on  that  account  the  less  delightful.  But  of  late,  since  my  health 
became  so  bad,  I  sometimes  think  I  shall  never  be  in  a  condition  to 
write  any  more.  I  am  so  much  disheartened  and  stupefied  by  this 
vertigo,  to  say  nothing  of  my  other  complaints,  that  I  frequently 
lose  the  command  of  my  thoughts,  and  become  incapable  of  all 
mental  exertion.  However,  if  I  should  get  a  little  better,  and  if 
there  is  no  occasion  for  haste  in  preparing  the  biographical  account 
of  your  father,  it  may  still  perhaps  be  in  my  power  to  attempt  it.* 

*  This  Dr  Beattie  never  accomplished.  An  excellent  biographical  sketch 
of  the  Life  of  Mr  Tytler,  by  Henry  Mackenzie,  Esq.  is  printed  in  the  "  Trans- 
"  actions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  33.  See  Appendix, 
[O.]  :  and  p.  80. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  481 

I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  find  Dr  Anderson's  account,  foi'  I 
seldom  see  his  periodical  work  ;  and  with  reviews  and  magazines  I 
am  still  less  acquainted. 

"  If  you  see  Sir  William  Forbes  or  Mr  Arbuthnot,  please  to 
show  them  this  letter.  It  will  account  for  my  writing  so  seldom 
to  them  of  late." 

LETTER  CCXXX. 


THE  BISHOP  OF  LONDON  TO  DR  BEATTIE. 

Fulham-house,  25th  June,  1794. 

"  I  HAVE  the  pleasure  of  inclosing  to  you  a  letter  from  my 
friend,  Lady  Cremorne,  who  writes  to  thank  you  for  the  very  great 
pleasure  she  has  received  from  the  perusal  of  your  son's  "  Life" 
and  the  English  part  of  his  works.  To  her  acknowledgments  I 
must  add  my  own  and  Mrs  Porteus's,  who  are  both  of  us  no  less 
delighted  with  this  publication.  Among  the  Latin  poems  I  am 
particularly  pleased  with  the  "  Translation  of  the  Messiah."  In 
the  "  Life"  you  have  written  of  him,  you  have  erected  a  lasting 
monument  to  him  and  to  yourself.  It  will  for  ever  remain  a  strik- 
ing proof  of  his  learning,  genius,  piety,  benevolence,  and  goodness 
of  heart,  and  of  your  paternal  tenderness,  sensibility,  and  attach- 
ment, to  a  son,  so  worthy  of  your  affection.  I  lament  greatly,  that 
his  uncommon  diffidence,  modesty,  and  reserve,  when  he  was  with 
us  at  Hunton,  prevented  us  from  knowing  so  much  of  his  true 
character,  and  from  testifying  so  strong  a  sense  of  it  as  we  ought 
to  have  done. 

"  There  is  something  very  ingenious  and  pleasing  in  the  me- 
thod you  took  to  give  him  the  first  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being.  It 
has  all  the  imagination  of  Rousseau,  without  his  folly  and  extrava- 
gance. I  make  no  doubt  that  the  deep  impression  this  incident  left 
on  his  mind,  was  the  true  ground-work  of  that  sublime  sense  of 
piety  which  afterwards  animated  his  whole  conduct.* 

*  The  passag-c  here  alhidedto,  in  the  "  Account  of  his  Son's  Life,"  is  as 
follows  : 

"  The  first  rules  of  morality  I  taught  him  were,  to  speak  truth,  and  keep 
•'  a  secret ;  and  I  never  found  that  in  a  single  instance  he  transgressed  either- 

3  p 


482  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

"  The  sources  from  whence  you  received  youv  information 
respecung  the  ''.'V  est  Indies,  seem  very  sufficient  to  justify  what  you 
have  said.     I  am  now  looking  out  for  miisionaries  and  schoolmas- 

"  'I'he  doctrines  of  religion  I  wished  to  impr-ess  on  his  mind,  as  soon  as  it 
"  might  be  prepared  to  lecelve  them  ;  but  1  did  not  see  the  propiiety  of  mak- 
"ing-  him  commit  to  memory  tlK-< 'logical  sentences,  or  any  sentences,  which 
*'it  was  not  |)ossible  for  liim  lo  understand.  And  I  was  desirous  to  make  a 
"  trial  how  far  his  own  reason  could  go  in  tracing  out,  with  a  little  direction, 
*'  the  great  and  first  principle  of  all  religion, the  beuig  of  God.  The  foUow- 
"  ing  fact  IS  mentioned,  not  as  a  pioof  of  suj^erior  sagacity  in  him  (for  I  have 
"  no  doubt  that  most  children  woidd  In  like  circumstances  think  as  he  did), 
"  but  merely  as  a  moral  or  logical  experiment. 

"  He  had  reached  his  fifth  (or  sixth)  year,  knew  the  alphabet,  and  could 
"  read  a  little  ;  but  had  received  no  particular  information  with  respect  to 
"tlie  Author  of  his  being:  because  I  thought  he  coidd  not  yet  understand 
"  such  information  ;  and  because  1  had  learned  from  my  own  experience,  that 
*'  to  be  made  to  repeat  words  not  understood,  is  extremely  detrimental  to  the 
"faculties  of  a  young  mind.  In  a  corner  ofa  little  garden,  without  informing 
"  any  .^eison  of  the  circnmsiance,  I  wrote  in  the  mould,  with  mj  finger,  the 
"three  initial  letters  of  his  name;  and  sowing  garden-cresses  in  the  furrows, 
*'  covered  up  the  seed,  and  smoothed  the  ground.  Ten  days  after,  he  came 
•'running  to  me,  and  with  astonishment  in  his  countenance  told  me,  that  his 
"  name  was  growing  in  the  garden.  I  smiled  at  the  report,  and  seemed  in- 
"  clined  to  disregard  il  ;  but  he  insisied  on  mj  going  to  see  what  had  happen- 
*•  ed.  Yes,  said  I  carelessly,  on  coming  to  the  place,  I  see  it  is  so  ;  but  there 
*'  is  nothing  in  ihis  worth  notice  ;  it  is  mere  chance  :  and  I  went  away.  He 
"  followed  me,  and,  taking  hold  of  my  coat,  said  with  some  earnestness,  it 
'•could not  be  mere  chance;  for  tliat  somebody  must  have  contrived  matters 
"  so  as  to  ]U'oduce  it. — I  pretend  not  to  give  his  words,  or  ray  own,  for  I  have 
"forgotten  both;  but  I  give  the  substance  of  what  passed  between  us  in 
"  such  language  as  we  both  understood. — So  you  think,  I  said,  that  what 
•'  appears  so  regular  as  the  letters  of  your  name  cannot  be  by  chance.  Yes, 
"  said  he,  with  firmness,  I  think  so.  Lijok  at  yourself,  I  replied,  and  consider 
"your  hands  and  fingers,  your  legs  and  feet,  and  other  limbs  ;  are  they  not 
"  regular  in  their  appearance,  and  useful  to  you  ?  He  said,  they  were.  Came 
•'you  then  hither,  said  I,  by  ciiance  ?  No,  he  answered,  that  cannot  be; 
"  sometliing  must  have  made  me.  And  who  is  that  something,  I  asked.  He 
"  said,  he  did  not  know.  (I  took  particular  notice,  that  he  did  not  say,  as 
•'  Rousseau  fancied  a  child  in  like  circumstances  would  say,  that  his  parents 
"made  him.)  I  had  now  gained  the  point  I  aimed  at :  and  saw,  that  his 
"  reason  taught  him,  (though  he  could  not  so  express  it)  that  what  begins  to 
•'be  must  have  a  cause,  and  that  what  is  formed  widi  regularity  must  have 
•*  an  ii>telligent  cause.  I  therefore  told  him  the  name  of  the  Great  Being  who 
'*iiiade  hiin  and  all  the  world ;  concerning  whose  adorable  nature  I  gave  him 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  483 

ters  to  send  to  that  country  ;  and  if  you  know  any  young  man  that 
would  be  a  proper  person  for  either  of  those  occupations,  piease  to 
inform  me.  His  cnaracter  must  be  irreproachable  ;  and  ids  piety 
and  zeal,  in  the  great  cause  of  religion,  must  be  fervent,  yet  tem- 
pered with  discretion. 

"  The  last  news  from  Flanders  are  very  dispiriting*.  The 
numbers  of  the  Frencii  are  so  great,  that  it  seems  to  me  impossible 
for  all  the  powers  of  Europe  to  withstand  them.  When  1  look  only 
to  human  means,  and  the  common  course  of  affairs,  I  totally  des- 
pair. But  I  trust  that  God,  who  has  so  often  interposed  in  our  fa- 
vour, will  once  more  rescue  us  from  that  torrent  of  anarchy,  confu- 
sion, infidelity,  and  misery,  which  seem  ready  to  overwhelm  us. 
And  it  is  this  hope  alone  which  sustains  my  spirits,  and  supports 
my  mind." 


While  Dr  Beattie  was  thus  suffering  by  the  deplorable  state  of 
his  own  health,  shattered  by  a  long  ti'ain  of  nervous  complaints^ 
originally  brought  on  by  too  intense  application  to  study,  he  was 
about  to  experience  another  domestic  misfortune  in  the  loss  of  his 
only  surviving  son,  Montagu  Beattie,  who  very  unexpectedly  died 
at  Aberdeen  on  the  14th  March,  1796,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his 
age,  of  a  fever  of  only  a  week's  continuance. 

Ever  since  he  lost  his  eldest  son,  this  his  second  son  had  been 
the  great  object  of  his  attention.  The  characters  indeed  of  the  two 
young  men  were  extremely  different.  The  eldest  was  grave,  stu- 
dious, and  reserved  ;  the  other  was  lively,  and  of  popular  manners; 
nor  was  he  defective  in  genius,  though  far  inferior  to  his  elder  bro- 
ther in  learning.  His  progress  in  science  had  not  indeed  been  con- 
siderable ;  partly  owing  to  bad  health,  which  had  prevented  his  re- 
gular attendance  at  school  and  college,  and  partly,  perhaps,  to  his 
father's  having  kept  him  too  much  with  himself:  for  he  was  always 
extremely  dependent  on  the  society,  and  even  on  the  assistance,  of 

"  such  inff)rmation  as  I  thought  he  could  in  some  measure  compreliend  The 
"lesson  aflfected  liim  greatly,  and  lie  never  forgot  either  it,  or  the  circum- 
"  stance  tliat  introduced  it." 

*  This  was  during  the  course  of  the  war  in  that  country,  in  which  Great 
Britain  was  then  engaged. 


4M  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

his  children.  His  friends  used  to  think,  too,  that  in  his  system  of 
education,  he  erred  on  the  score  of  personal  indulgence  :  yet  Mon- 
tagu had  suffered  less  in  that  respect  than  might  have  been  sup- 
posed ;  for,  as  Dr  Beattie  had  been  so  long  in  the  habit  of  teaching, 
and  as  he  bestowed  all  the  time  he  could  possibly  spare  on  his  son's 
instruction,  he  tells  us  himself  in  one  of  his  letters,  that  scarce  a  day 
passed  in  which  he  did  not  give  him  a  lesson  of  one  sort  or  other  ; 
and  he  speaks  of  his  progress  in  literature  as  by  no  means  con- 
temptible. 

The  care  of  this  his  youngest  son's  education,  and  the  plans  he 
was  devising  for  his  future  establishment  in  the  world,  served  to  fill 
up  his  time  after  he  lost  his  eldest  son,  and  proved  a  tie  that  con- 
tinued to  connect  him  with  society.  On  this  subject  he  and  I  had 
frequent  conferences  ;  in  the  course  of  which  he  informed  me,  that 
he  had  done  me  the  honour  to  appoint  me  one  of  those  friends  to 
whom  he  had  left  the  charge  of  his  son,  if  we  should  survive  him. 
He  had  therefore  expressed  himself  to  me  on  this  interesting 
topic  with  uncommon  energy  and  unreserve  ;  and  he  had  occasional- 
ly spoken  of  his  intention  to  make  his  son  a  clergyman  of  the  church 
of  England  ;  for  Avhich  profession  the  youth  himself  showed  some 
inclination.  With  such  views  and  such  prospects,  Dr  Beattie  was 
pleasing  himelf ;  when  all  at  once  they  were  destroyed  by  his  son's 
unexpected  death.  Of  that  melancholy  event  he  gives  a  most  inte- 
resting and  affecting  account  in  the  following  letter. 


LETTER  CCXXXI. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  14th  March,  1796. 

"  OUR  plans  relating  to  Montagu  are  all  at  an  end.  I  am 
sorry  to  give  you  the  pain  of  being  informed,  that  he  died  this 
morning  at  five.  His  disorder  was  a  fever,  from  which  at  first  we 
had  little  apprehension  ;  but  it  cut  him  off  in  five  days.  He  him- 
self thohght  from  the  beginning  that  it  would  be  fatal ;  and,  before 
the  delirium  came  on,  spoke  with  great  composure  and  Christian 
piety   of    his     approaching    dissolution :    he    even    gave    some 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  485 

directions  about  his  funeral.  The  delirium  was  very  violent,  and 
continued  till  within  a  few  minutes  of  his  death,  when  he  was 
heard  to  repeat  in  a  wiiisper  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  began  an  unfi- 
nished sentence,  of  which  nothing  could  be  heard  but  the  words 
incorruptible  glory.  Pious  sentiments  prevailed  in  iiis  mind  through 
life,  and  did  not  leave  him  till  death  ;  nor  then  I  trust  did  they  leave 
him.  Notwithstanding  the  extreme  violence  of  his  fever,  he  seemed 
to  suffer  little  pain  either  in  Iiody  or  in  mind,  and  as  his  end  drew 
near,  a  smile  settled  upon  his  countenance.  I  need  not  tell  you  that 
he  had  every  attention  that  skilful  and  affectionate  physicians  could 
bestow.  I  give  you  the  trouble  to  notify  this  event  to  Mr  Arbuth- 
not.  I  would  have  written  to  him,  but  have  many  things  to  mind, 
and  but  indifferent  health.  However,  I  heartily  acquiesce  in  the 
dispensations  of  Providence,  which  are  all  good  and  wise.  God 
blfcbs  you  and  your  family. 

"  He  will  be  much  regretted  ;  for  wherever  he  went  he  was  a 
very  popular  character." 


The  death  of  his  only  surviving  child,  completely  unhinged  the 
mind  of  Dr  Beattie,  the  first  symptom  of  which,  ere  many  days  had 
elapsed,  was  a  temporary  but  almost  total  loss  of  memory  respect- 
ing his  son.  Many  times  he  could  not  recollect  what  had  become 
of  him  ;  and  after  searching  in  every  room  of  the  house,  he  would 
say  to  his  niece,  Mrs  Glennie,  "  You  may  think  it  strange,  but  I 
"  must  ask  you  if  I  have  a  son,  and  where  he  is  ?"  She  then  felt  her- 
self under  the  painful  necessity  of  bringing  to  his  recollection  his 
son  Montagu's  sufferings,  which  always  restored  him  to  reason. 
And  he  would  often,  with  many  tears,  express  his  thankfulness, 
that  he  had  no  child,  saying,  "  How  could  I  have  borne  to  see  their 
"  elegant  minds  mangled  with  madness  1"*  When  he  looked  for 
the  last  time  on  the  dead  body  of  his  son,  he  said,  "  I  have  now  done 
"  with  the  world  :"  and  he  ever  after  seemed  to  act  as  if  he  thought 
so.  For  he  never  applied  himself  to  any  sort  of  study,  and  answered 
but  fiw  of  the  letters  he  received  from  the  friends  whom  he  most 
valued.     Yet  the  receiving  a  letter  from  an  old  Ixiend  never  failed 

•  Alluding,  no  doubt,  te  their  mother's  melancholy  situation. 


486  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

to  put  him  in  spirits  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  Music,  which  had 
been  his  great  delight,  he  could  not  endure,  after  the  death  of  his 
eldest  son,  to  hear  from  others  ;  and  he  disliked  his  owb  favourite 
violoncello.  A  few  months  before  Montagu's  death,  he  did  begin 
to  play  a  little  by  way  of  accompaniment  when  Montagu  sung  :  but 
after  he  lost  him,  when  he  was  prevailed  on  to  touch  the  violon- 
cello, he  was  always  discontented  with  his  own  performance,  and  at 
last  seemed  to  be  unhappy  when  he  heard  it.  The  only  enjoy- 
ment he  seemed  to  have  was  in  books,  and  the  society  of  a  very  few 
old  friends.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  melancholy  picture  which 
he  draws  of  his  own  situation  about  this  time,  without  dropping  a 
tear  of  pity  over  the  sorrows  and  the  sufferings  of  so  good  a  man, 
thus  severely  visited  by  affliction,  who  at  the  same  time  was  bear- 
ing the  rod  of  divine  chastisement  with  the  utmost  patience  and 
resignation, 


LETTER  CCXXXII. 


THE  BISHOP  OF  LONDON  TO  DR  BEATTIE.  • 

London-house,  23d  March,  1796. 

"  I  CAN  scarce  recollect  a  time  when  I  have  been  more  sur- 
prised and  afflicted  than  at  the  receipt  of  your  last  letter.  It  is  in- 
deed a  sad  and  most  dismal  event ;  and  both  Mrs  Porteus  and  my- 
self most  cordially  sympathize  with  you  in  your  loss  and  in  your 
grief.  At  the  same  time,  there  are  circumstances  in  t!ie  case,  which 
give  no  small  consolation  to  our  minds.  The  faith,  the  piety,  the 
fortitude,  displayed  by  so  young  a  man  on  so  awful  an  occasion,  do 
infinite  credit  to  him,  and  must  afford  the  highest  satisfaction  to 
you.  And  it  is  with  no  less  pleasure  I  obseiwe  the  composure  and 
resignation  with  which  you  support  this  great  calamity.  It  shows 
in  the  strongest  light  the  power  of  Christian  principle  over  the 
mind  ;  and  it  shows  also  from  what  source  this  excellent  and  amia- 
ble young  man  derived  those  virtues  which  adorned  his  short  life 
and  dignified  his  premature  death. 

"  But  I  will  dwell  no  longer  on  this  melancholy  subject ;  nor 
will  I  at  present  obtrtvde  any  trifling  matters  on  your  serious  mo- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  487 

Bients.  When  time  has  a  little  lightened  the  pressure  of  this 
aiSiction,  I  will  write  to  you  again  ;  and,  in  the  meanwhile,  im- 
plore for  you  all  the  comforts  of  religion." 


LETTER  CCXXXIIL 


AR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 


Aberdeen,  10th  April,  1796. 

"  I  WISHED  to  answer  your  kind  letter  as  soon  as  I  recei- 
ved it,  or  as  soon  after  as  possible  ;  but  the  very  interesting  and 
painful  suspense  I  was  kept  in  by  Dr  Campbell's  illness,  disquali- 
fied me  for  writing  and  every  thing  else.  His  illness  was  so  vio- 
lent, that,  considering  his  age  and  enfeebled  state,  and  some  other 
disorders  w^hich  I  knew  he  was  afflicted  with,  I  did  not  at  first  ima- 
gine that  he  could  live  two  days.  To  the  surprise  of  every  body, 
however,  he  held  out,  almost  a  week,  though  unable  to  speak,  and 
for  a  great  part  of  the  time  delirious.  His  death  at  last  was  easy, 
and  he  died  as  he  had  lived,  a  sincere  Christian  :  we  yesterday 
paid  our  last  duties  to  his  remains.  He  and  I  were  intimate  friends 
for  about  thirty -eight  years,  without  any  interval  of  coldness  or  dis- 
satisfaction. His  instructive  and  cheerful  conversation  was  one  of 
the  greatest  blessings  of  my  life,  and  I  sliall  chei'ish  the  remem- 
brance of  it,  with  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  all  good,  as  long  as  I 
live. 

"  His  death  was  looked  for,  and  by  himself  much  desired.  Mon- 
tagu's came  upon  me  in  a  different  manner.  His  delirium,  which 
was  extremely  violent,  ended  in  a  state  of  such  apparent  tranquil- 
lity, that  I  was  congratulating  myself  on  the  danger  being  over,  at 
the  very  time  when  Dr  *****  came,  and  told  me,  in  his  own  name, 
and  in  that  of  the  other  two  physicians  that  attended  Montagu,  that 
he  could  not  live  many  hours  :  this  was  at  eleven  at  night,  and  he 
died  at  five  next  morning.  I  hope  I  am  resigned,  as  my  duty  re- 
quires, and  as  I  wish  to  be  ;  but  I  have  passed  many  a  bitter  hour, 
though  on  those  occasions  nobody  sees  me.  I  fear  my  reason  is  a 
♦little  disordered,  for  I  have  sometimes  thought  of  late,  especially  in 


488  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

a  morninj^,  that  Montagu  is  not  dead,  though  I  seem  to  have  a 
remembrance  of  a  dream  that  he  is.  This,  you  will  say,  what  1 
myself  believe,  is  a  symptom  not  uncommon  in  cases  similar  to 
mine,  and  that  I  ought  by  all  means  to  go  from  home  as  soon  as 
I  can.  I  will  do  so  when  the  weather  becomes  tolerable.  Inclina- 
tion would  draw  me  to  Peterhead  ;  but  the  intolerable  road  forbids 
it,  and  I  believe  I  must  go  southward,  where  the  roads  are  very 
good  :  at  least  I  hear  so. 

"  Being  now  childless,  by  the  will  of  Providence,  (in  which  1 
trust  I  acquiesce)  I  have  made  a  new  settlement  in  my  small  affairs  ; 
the  only  particular  of  which  that  needs  to  be  mentioned  at  present 
is,  that  the  organ,  built  by  my  eldest  son  and  you,  is  now  yours. 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  the  kind  friends  who  sympathize  with 
me.  Montagu  was  indeed  very  popular  Avherever  he  went.  His 
death  was  calm,  resigned,  and  unaffectedly  pious  ;  he  thought  him- 
self dying  from  the  first  attack  of  his  illness.  "  I  could  wish,"  said 
he,  "  to  live  to  be  old,  but  am  neither  afraid  nor  unwilling  to  die." 

LETTER  CCXXXIV. 


»R  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Aberdeen,  inh  April,  1796. 

"  I  HAVE  been  these  many  days  resolving  to  write  to  you 
and  Mr  Arbuthnot,  to  thank  you  for  your  very  kind  and  sympathetic 
letters,  but  various  things  have  come  in  my  way  to  prevent  it.  I 
need  not  pretend  a  hurry  of  business,  for  every  body  knows  I  am 
not  capable  of  any.  A  deep  gloom  hangs  upon  me  and  disables  all 
my  faculties,  and  thoughts  so  strange  sometimes  occur  to  me,  as 
to  make  me  "  fear  that  I  am  not,"  as  Lear  says,  "  in  my  perfect 
"  mind."  But  I  thank  God  I  am  entirely  resigned  to  the  divine 
will ;  and,  though  I  am  now  childless,  I  have  friends  whose  good- 
ness to  me,  and  other  virtues,  I  find  great  comfort  in  recollecting. 
The  physicians  not  only  advise  but  intreat,  and  indeed  command 
me,  to  go  from  home,  and  that  without  further  delay  :  and  I  do 
seriously  resolve  to  set  out  for  Edinburgh  to-morrow.  As  I  shall 
travel  slowly,  it  will  perhaps  be  a  week  or  more  before  I  see  you. 
At  another  time,  and  in  different  circumstances,  I  should  have  had 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIK,  48.9 

much  to  say  on  the  loss  of  our  friend,  Dr  Campbell,  but  that  sub- 
ject, as  well  as  some  others,  I  must  defer  till  we  meet." 


LETTER  CCXXXV. 


BR    BEATTIE    TO    MRS    MONTAGU. 

Aberdeen,  irth  April,  1796. 

"  I  THANK  you  most  cordially  for  your  letter,  so  full  of 
kindness  and  sympathy,  and  by  consequence  of  comfort,  to  my  be- 
wildered mind.  I  trust  that  in  resignation,  to  the  will  of  the  su- 
premely Avise  and  good  Disposer  of  all  events,  I  am  not  deficient ; 
but  my  frailties  are  many,  and  I  cannot  yet  counteract  the  pressure 
that  bears  so  hard  upon  me.  Time  and  recollection  will,  I  hope, 
give  some  strength  to  my  faculties,  and  restore  to  me  the  power  of 
commanding  my  thoughts.  The  physicians,  who  see  how  it  is  with 
me,  not  only  advise  but  command  me  to  go  from  home,  without 
further  delay  :  and  I  intend  to  begin  to-morrow,  to  try  at  least 
what  I  can  do  in  the  way  of  travelling.  My  first  course  will  be 
towards  Edinburgh,  where  I  shall  stay  two  or  three  weeks  ;  and  if 
I  find  I  am  able,  I  shall  probably  after  that  go  a  little  way  into  Eng- 
land :  but  whether  I  shall  find  it  advisable  to  proceed  as  far  as  Lon- 
don, I  cannot  as  yet  determine. 

"  My  son  Montagu  sleeps  in  his  brother's  grave  ;  the  depth  of 
which  allows  sufficient  room  for  both.  The  inscription  I  have  en- 
larged a  little,  and  inclose  a  copy  :  its  only  merit  is  its  simplicity 
and  truth. 

^  MONTAGU.  BEATTIE. 
Jacobi.  Hay,  Beattie.  Prater. 
Mjusque.  Virtutum.  et,  Studiorum. 
JEmulus. 
Sepulchrique,  Connors. 
Variarum.  Peritus.  .Artiwn. 
Pingendi.  imprimis. 
Mitus.  Octavo.  Julii.  MDCCLXXVUI. 

Miill7tjyi.  Dcjietus.  Ohiit. 
Decimo.  Quarto.  Martii.  MDQCXCVI, 


49»  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 


LETTER  CCXXXVL 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  ROBERT  ARBUTHNOT,  ESq. 

Aberdeen,  9th  February,  1797. 

"  If  I  could  have  said  any  thing  that  would  mitigate  your  grief 
for  the  loss  of  a  most  deserving  son,*  your  own  heart  will  testify 
for  me  that  I  would  not  have  been  so  long  silent.  But  I  have  had 
too  much  experience  not  to  know,  that  the  only  sources  of  comfort, 
in  a  case  of  tiiis  kind,  are  submission  to  the  Divine  Will,  aided  by 
the  slow  and  silent  operation  of  time.  God  grant  that  these  may 
be  effectual  for  the  alleviation  of  your  sorrow.  Think  on  the  many 
other  blessings  you  enjoy  ;  and  think  that  the  most  enviable  of  all 
deaths  is  that  which  we  now  bewail,  an  honourable  death  in  the  ser- 
vice of  our  country.  1  beg  leave  to  offer  my  best  wishes  and  sym- 
pathy to  Mrs  Arbuthnot  and  the  rest  of  your  family  ;  and  shall  be 
happy  to  liear,  that  you  and  they  are  as  well  as  it  is  reasonable  to 
expect. 

"  I  sometimes  make  an  excursion  to  Major  Mercer's,  which  is 
the  only  sort  of  visit  I  ever  attempt ;  and  he  and  I  are  I  hope  bene- 
ficial to  each  other  ;  though  his  affliction  is,  I  fear,  in  some  respects 
heavier  than  either  yours  or  mine.  Alas  !  how  many  things  occur 
in  this  world,  which  are  worse  than  death  1" 


The  following  letter  to  Mr  Eraser  Tytler,  now  Lord  Wood- 
houselee,t  in  return  for  a  present  which  that  gentleman  had  made 
him  of  a  new  edition  of  his  elegant  and  excellent  "  Essay  on  Trans- 
"  lation,"  is  written  with  more  of  Dr  Beattie's  former  manner,  than 
any  I  have  met  with  of  his,  after  the  death  of  his  youngest  son.  It 
does  no  more  than  justice  to  the  merit  of  the  "  Essay  on  Transla- 
"  tion  ,"  and  it  is  curious,  as  containing  an  account  and  a  specimen 
of  a  work  not  frequently  to  be  met  with. 

•  A  very  deserving  officer  of  artillery,  who  died  at  this  time  in  the  West 
Indies. 

t  See  Appendix,  [F.] 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  491 


LETTER  CCXXXVII. 


>R  BEATTIE  TO  ALEX.  ERASER  TYTLER,  ESQ.  NOW  LORD  WOOD- 
HOUSELEE. 


Aberdeen,  15th  May,  1797. 

"  EVER  since  March  1  have  been,  as  I  still  am,  in  a  great 
degree,  crippled  both  in  my  legs  and  arms  by  rheumatism,  which 
has  been  very  painful,  and  is  likely  to  be  not  less  durable.  This 
made  me,  from  time  to  time,  defer  attempting  to  thank  you  for  the 
much-esteemed  present  of  the  new  edition  of  your  "  Principles  of 
"  Translation."  As  yet  I  have  read  it  only  once  ;  but  I  read  it  with 
much  attention,  and  great  pleasure,  as  well  as  instruction.  I  am 
astonished  at  the  variety  of  your  examples,  which  prove  that  you 
must  have  thought  long  and  deeply  on  the  subject ;  and  I  am  con- 
vinced that  your  work  will  be  very  acceptable  to  the  learned  world, 
and  very  useful.  Great  taste,  as  well  as  learning,  appears  in  every 
part  of  it.  I  must  thank  you,  in  particular,  for  the  very  favourable 
manner  in  which  I  have  the  honour  to  be  quoted  in  it  :  for  your 
very  elegant  compliment  to  my  son  I  have  thanked  you,  and  I  still 
thank  you,  with  my  tears.  Had  he  lived  to  see  your  book,  I  know 
it  would  have  given  him  much  pleasure  ;  for  I  have  often  heard 
him  speak  on  the  subject,  and  in  terms  which  perfectly  coincided 
with  your  sentiments. 

"  A  judicious  critic  every  body  must  acknowledge  you  to  be, 
and  yet  you  are  very  merciful,  especially  to  Cowley  and  Dryden. 
This  last  frequently  burlesques  Virgil  ;  whether  he  intended  it,  I 
know  not ;  if  he  did  not  intend  it,  he  must  have  been  very  little  of 
a  scholar.  But  who  is  equal  to  the  task  of  translating  Virgil  ?  No- 
body, I  will  venture  to  say,  will  ever  attempt  such  a  task  who  is 
equal  to  it.  I  formerly  attempted  some  parts  of  him  ;  but  it  was 
at  a  time  when  I  understood  him  very  superficially  indeed.* 

*  Alluding  to  his  translations  of  the  Pastorals  of  Virg'il,  printed  in  the 
first  edition  ofDr  Beattie's  Po§ms,  but  never  re -published.  Seep.  37; 
and  Appendix,  [K.] 


492  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

^  There  is  one  translation  which  I  greatly  admire,  but  am  sure 
you  never  saw,  as  you  have  not  mentioned  it :  the  book  is  indeed 
very  rare  ;  I  obtained  it,  with  difficulty,  by  the  friendship  of  Tom 
Davies,  an  old  English  bookseller  ;  I  mean,  Dobson's  "  Paradisus 
"  Amissus  ;"  my  son  studied,  and  I  believe  read  every  line  of  it. 
It  is  more  true  to  the  original,  both  in  sense  and  in  spirit,  than 
any  other  poetical  version  of  length  that  I  have  s»^^n.  The  author 
must  have  had  an  amazing  command  of  Latin  phraseology,  and  a 
very  nice  ear  in  harmony.  I  shall  give  you  a  passage,  I  need  not 
say  from  what  part  of  the  poem  : 

*•  Dixerat ;  et  laetls  dicta  auribus  hausit  Adamus, 

"  At  nil  respondit ;  namque  ollis  maximus  hospes 

*"•  Jam  propior  stetit ;  adversique  a  culmine  montis 

"  Flammea  praescriptam  statlonem  adiere  cherubum 

"  Agmina,  suspensis  per  humiim  labentia  plantis. 

•*  Ut  nebula,  ex  fluviis  se  efiundens  vespere  sero, 

"  Pervolitat  densasliquido  pede  lapsa  paludes, 

"  Agrlcolamque  premit  reducem,  calcemque  suburget. 

"  Undantes  a  fronte  faces  sublime  vibratus 

"  Numinis  evomuit  gladius,  ceucrine  cometa 

"  yerribile  lugubre  rubens,  coclique  benignam 

'*  Temperiem  invertit :  torrenti  incanduit  atrox 

"  Igiie  vapor,  quantus  sitientibus  incubat  Afris. 

*'  Corripit  inde  manu  nostros  utraque  parentes 

*'  Nuntius,  increpitatqtie  moras  ;  portamque  ad  eoam 

"  Ducit  agens,  celsaque  iteruni  de  rupe  jacentem 

•'  Ocius  in  campum ;  tenues  dein  fugit  in  auras. 

"  Convertere  oculos  ;  lateque  plagas  Paradisi 

"  Eoas,  sua  tarn  nuper  laetissima  rura, 

"  Flammivomo  mucrone  vident  ardescere  ;  formlsque 

*'  Obsessam  horrificis  portam,  et  flagrantibus  armis. 

♦'  Naturje  imperio  lacrimas  misere,  repente 

*'  Detersas  :  Patuit  spatiosis  tractibus  orbis 

"  Terrarum,  requiem  optatam  dulcesque  recessus 

"  Qua  peterent  sibi  cunque  loca  ;  et  Deus  adfuit  auspex 

"  Turn  vaga,  lentaque,  ducentes  vestigia,  palmis 

*'  Connexis,  solos  Edeni  abiere  per  agros." 

'■■  There  are  perhaps  in  this  quotation  two  or  three  words  which 
might  have  been  better,  and  I  am  far  from  thinking  the  work  fault- 
less ;  but  when  there  is  so  much  excellence,  cavilling  is  unreason- 
able. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  493 

^  Being  curious  to  know  some  particulars  of  Dobson,  I  inquired 
of  him  at  Johnson,  who  owned  he  had  known  him,  but  did  not 
seem  inclined  to  speak  on  the  subject.  But  Johnson  hated  Milton 
from  his  heart ;  and  he  wished  to  be  himself  considered  as  a  good 
Latin  poet,  which  however  he  never  was,  as  may  be  seen  by  his 
translation  of  Pope's  "  Messiah."  All  that  I  could  ever  hear  of 
Dobson's  private  life  was,  that  in  his  old  age  he  was  given  to  drink- 
ing. My  edition  of  his  book  is  dated  1750.  It  is  dedicated  to  Mr 
Benson,  who  was  a  famous  admirer  of  Milton  ;  and  from  the  dedi-v 
cation  it  would  seem  to  have  been  written,  at  his  desire  and  under 
bis  patronage." 


LETTER  CCXXXVIIL 


BR  BEATTIE  TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Aberdeen,  5th  June,  1798. 

"  YOU  would  have  heard  from  me  long  ago,  if  it  had  been  ia 
my  power  to  write ;  but  my  complaints,  which  seem  to  grow  worse 
every  day,  are  now  so  bad,  that  I  can  do  nothing.  My  vertigo, 
the  greatest  of  them  all,  is  now  so  violent,  that  I  am  for  a  great 
part  of  the  day  unable  to  go  down  stairs  ;  my  sight  is  much  im- 
paired ;  I  cannot  attend  to  what  I  read,  and  I  forget  almost  every 
thing  that  I  see  or  hear. 

"  I  have  been  trying  to  play  a  little  on  the  violoncello,  but  my 
fingers  have  not  strength  to  press  down  the  strings.  I  will  send 
you,  when  I  get  an  opportunity,  a  little  treatise,  by  a  man,  propos- 
ing an  improvement  in  the  art  of  music.  He  wishes,  like  some- 
other  writers,  to  reduce  all  music  to  simple  melody  :  a  doctrine 
which  old  admirers  of  Corelli,  like  you  and  me,  will  never  acqui- 
esce in.  It  is  the  violin  which  he  proposes  to  improve,  by  a  method, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  would  ruin  that  instrument.  He  thinks  mu- 
sic an  imitative  art;  and  that  a  tune,  which  he  calls  the  Cameroniaii 
Rant^  is  an  exact  resemblance  of  two  women  scolding.  Mr  Glen- 
nie  plays  the  tune,  which  seems  to  me  to  be  nothing  but  confusion 
and  barbarism,  and  to  bear  no  resemblance  to  any  thing  in  art  or 


494  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

nature.  Lord  Monboddo,  another  adherent  to  the  imitative  notion," 
says,  the  only  true  music  he  ever  heard,  is  the  thing  called  the 
Hen's  March ;  which  no  man  who  deserves  to  have  ears  in  his 
head,  would  allow  to  be  music  at  all. 

"  I  have  just  seen  anew  edition,  by  Dr  Joseph  Warton,  of  the 
works  of  Pope.  It  is  fuller  than  Warburton's  ;  but  you  will  not 
think  it  better,  when  I  tell  you,  that  all  Pope's  obscenities,  which 
Warburton  was  careful  to  omit,  are  carefully  preserved  by  Warton, 
who  also  seems  to  have  a  great  favour  for  infidel  writers,  particu- 
larly Voltaire.  The  book  is  well  printed,  but  has  no  cuts,  except  a 
curious  caricature  of  Pope's  person,  and  an  elegant  profile  of  his 
head.'' 


LETTER  CCXXXIX. 


DR  BEATTIE  TO  SIR  WILLIAM    FORBES. 


Peterhead,  3d  August,  1898. 

"  I  AM  acquainted  with  many  parts  of  your  excursion 
through  the  north  of  England,  and  very  glad  that  you  had  my  old 
friend  Mr  Gray's  "  Letters"  with  you,  which  are  indeed  so  well 
written,  that  I  have  no  scruple  to  pronounce  them  the  best  letters 
that  have  been  printed  in  our  language.  Lady  Mary  Montagu's 
"  Letters"  are  not  without  merit,  but  are  too  artificial  and  affected 
to  be  confided  in  as  true,  and  Lord  Chesterfield's  hav;e  much 
greater  faults,  indeed  some  of  the  greatest  that  letters  can  have : 
but  Gray's  letters  are  always  sensible,  and  of  classical  conciseness 
and  perspicuity.  They  very  much  resemble  what  his  conversa- 
tion was.  He  had  none  of  the  airs  of  either  a  scholar  or  a  poet ; 
and  though  on  those  and  all  other  subjects  he  spoke  to  me  with  the 
utmost  freedom,  and  without  any  reserve,  he  was,  in  general  com- 
pany, much  more  silent  than  one  could  have  wished. 

"  Have  you  seen  Mr  Pinkerton's  new  "  History  of  the  James's 
"  of  Scotland  ?"  The  author,  with  whom  I  was  acquainted  in  Lon- 
don about  fifteen  years  ago,  has  sent  me  a  copy  of  it,  but  my  dizzy 
head  will  not  yet  permit  me  to  read  it.     He  is  a  Scotchman,  and 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  495 

speaks  with  a  strong  Edinburgh  accent,  at  least  he  did  so  formerly. 
There  are  two  quartos,  with  a  striking  likeness  of  the  author  pre 
fixed.     He  seems  to  abound  too  much  in  our  new-fashioned  Eng- 
lish ;  but  I  cannot  yet  take  it  upon  me  to  criticise  his  work." 


In  the  following  letter  he  evinces  the  same  warmth  of  affection 
as  ever  for  his  friends,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  laments  the  death 
of  Mrs  Montagu  ;  although  the  intelligence  he  had  received  of  that 
event  proved  to  be  a  mistake,  as  that  lady  did  not  die  till  the  year 
following. 


LETTER  CCXL. 


DR  BEATTIE   TO  THE  REV.  DR  LAING. 

Aberdeen,  7th  March,  1799. 

"  I  HAVE  just  now  heard,  by  the  post  of  this  day,  a  piece 
of  news  that  affects  me  very  much,  the  death  of  my  excellent  friend 
Mrs  Montagu.  Her  age  was  not  less  than  fourscore,  so  that  on 
this  point  she  is  not  to  be  regi'etted.  But  many  people  depended  on 
her  ;  and  to  me,  on  all  occasions,  ever  since  1771,  when  I  first  be- 
came acquainted  with  her,  she  has  been  a  faithful  and  affectionate 
friend,  especially  in  seasons  of  distress  and  difficulty.  You  will 
not  wonder,  then,  that  her  death  afflicts  me.  For  some  years  past 
a  failure  in  her  eyes  had  made  writing  very  painful  to  her ;  but  for 
not  less  than  twenty  years  she  was  my  punctual  correspondent. 
She  was  greatly  attached  to  Montagu,  who  received  his  name 
from  her,  and  not  less  interested  in  my  other  son,  and  in  every  thing 
that  related  to  my  family.  I  need  not  tell  you  what  an  excellent 
writer  she  was:  you  must  have  seen  her  book  on  Shakespeare,  as 
compared  with  the  Greek  and  French  dramatic  writers.  I  have 
known  several  ladies  eminent  in  literature,  but  she  excelled  them 
all ;  and  in  conversation  she  had  more  wit  than  any  other  person, 
male  or  female,  whom  I  have  ever  known.     These,  however,  were 


496  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

her  slighter  accomplishments :  what  was  infinitely  more  to  he-f 
honour,  she  was  a  sincere  Christian,  both  in  faith  and  in  practice,, 
and  took  every  proper  opportunity  to  show  it ;  so  that  by  her  ex- 
ample and  influence  she  did  much  good.  I  knew  her  husband, 
who  died  in  extreme  old  age,  in  the  year  1775  ;  and  by  her  desire 
had  conferences  with  him  on  the  subject  of  Christianity  ;  but,  to 
her  great  concern,  he  set  too  mvich  value  on  mathematical  eviden- 
ces, and  piqued  himself  too  much  on  his  knowledge  in  that  science. 
He  took  it  into  his  head,  too,  that  I  was  a  mathematician,  though  I 
was  at  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  convince  him  of  the  contrary." 


Dr  Beattie's  sufferings  were  now  drawing  to  a  conclusion.  In 
the  beginning  of  April,  1799,  he  had  a  stroke  of  palsy,  which  for 
eight  days  so  affected  his  speech,  that  he  could  not  make  himself 
understood,  and  even  forgot  some  of  the  most  material  words  of 
every  sentence.  At  different  periods  after  this,  he  had  several  re- 
turns of  the  same  afflicting  malady.  The  last  took  place  on  the 
5th  October,  1802.  It  deprived  him  altogether  of  the  power  of 
motion;  and  in  that  humiliating  situation,  I  saw  him  for  the  last 
time  in  the  month  of  June,  1803. 

He  continued  to  languish  in  this  melancholy  condition  till  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Thursday  the  18th  of  August,  1803, 
when  it  pleased  the  Almighty  to  remove  him  from  this  world  to  a 
better,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  without  any  pain  or  ap- 
parent struggle.  For  some  weeks  preceding,  his  remaining 
strength  had  declined  rapidly,  ^nd  his  appetite  entirely  left  him  ; 
but  he  seemed  not  to  suffer,  and  at  last  he  expired  as  if  falling- 
asleep. 

His  remains  were  deposited  according  to  his  own  desire,*  be- 
side those  of  his  two  sons,  in  the  church-yard  of  St  Nicholas  at 
Aberdeen.  The  spot  is  marked  by  the  following  elegant  and  clas- 
sical inscription,  written  by  his  friend  the  present  Dr  James  Gre- 
gory, Professor  of  the  Practice  of  Physic  in  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh : 

*  Seep.  14. ;  and  supra,  187- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  497 

Memorite,  Sacruin. 
JACOBI.  BEATTIE.  LL.  D. 

Ethices. 

In,  Academia.  Marescallana.  hujus.  Urbis. 

Per.  XLIII.  Jnnos. 

Profossori.  Meritissimi. 

Viri. 

Pietate.  Probitate.  Ingenio.  atque.  Doctrina. 

Prtestantis. 

Scrifiioris.  Elegantissimi.  Poeta.  Suavissimi, 

Philosophi.  Vere.  Christiani. 

JVatus.  est.  V.  J^ov.  Anno.  MDCCXXXV. 

Obiit.  XVIII.  Aug.  MDCCCIII. 

Omnibus.  Liberis.  Orbus. 

Quorum.  JVatu.  Maximus.  Jacobus.  Hay.  Beattie. 

Vel.  a.  Puerilibus.  Annis. 

Patrio.  Vigent.  Ingenio. 

JVo~uumque.  Decus.  Jam.  Addens.  Paterno. 

Suzs.  Carissimus.  Patriae.  Flebilis. 

Lenta.  Tabe.  Consuinptus.  Periit. 

Anno.  Mtatis.  XXIII. 

Geo.  et.  Mar.  Glennie. 

H.  M.  P. 


They  who  have  perused,  with  any  degree  of  attention,  the 
preceding  narrative  of  the  life  of  Dr  Beattie,  and  his  letters  to  his 
friends,  will  not  require  much  to  be  said  to  give  them  a  sufficient 
idea  of  his  character. 

That  he  was  a  poet  and  philosopher  of  x'eal  and  original  genius, 
his  writings,  in  the  possession  of  the  public,  are  the  strongest  tes-  ^ 
timonies.  The  sweetness  and  harmony  of  his  numbers,  the  rich- 
ness of  his  fancy,  and  the  strictness  of  moral  inculcated  in  his 
poetical  compositions,  are  such  as  will  long  secure  to  him  a  high 
degree  of  reputation.  His  best  and  most  valuable  poern  is  his 
"  Minstrel ;"  in  the  delineation  of  whose  character  it  is  generally, 
and  I  believe  with  truth,  understood  that  he  depicted  his  own. 

.3  R 


498  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

His  Essays  on  "  Poetry  and  Music,"  on  "  Memory  and  Ima- 
"  gination,"  on  "  Fable  and  Romance,"  "  The  Theory  of  Lan- 
"  guage,"  and  some  others,  are  strongly  calculated  to  give  plea- 
sure, as  well  as  instruction,  to  every  enlightened  and  cultivated 
understanding  ;  and  do  equal  credit  to  the  elegance  of  Dr  Beattie's 
taste,  and  the  correctness  of  his  judgment.  Eminently  skilled  in 
the  languages  of  antiquity,  he  had  formed  that  taste,  and  matured 
that  judgment,  on  the  purest  models  of  Greek  and  Roman  litera- 
ture. He  had  studied,  also,  with  attention,  the  most  classical  com-> 
positions  in  our  own  language.  Nor  was  he  unacquainted  with  the 
works  of  the  celebrated  authors  of  France  and  Italy.  His  memo- 
ry was  uncommonly  strong,  and  his  knowledge  of  books  was  ex- 
tensive ;  so  that  to  him  might,  without  impropriety,  be  applied, 
what  Johnson  says  of  his  friend  Gilbert  Walmsley  ;  "  His  studies 
"  had  been  so  various,  that  I  am  not  able  to  name  a  man  of  equal 
"  knowledge.  His  acquaintance  with  books  was  great ;  and  what 
"  he  did  not  immediately  know,  he  could  at  least  tell  where  to  find." 
What  Johnson  likewise  says  of  his  obligations  to  Walmsley,  I 
may,  with  equal  truth,  apply  to  myself  in  respect  to  Dr  Beattiej 
"  Such  was  his  amplitude  of  learning,  and  such  his  copiousness  of 
"  communication,  that  it  may  be  doubted,  whether  a  day  now  pas- 
"  ses  in  which  I  have  not  some  advantage  from  his  friendship."* 

There  were,  indeed,  few  branches  of  science  with  which  he 
waa  not  in  some  degree  conversant,  except  mathematics,  and  me- 
chanics ;  for  which  he  used  to  say,  he  not  only  had  no  turn,  but 
that  every  application  to  them  brought  on  his  headachs.  His  chief 
acquirements  were  in  moral  science.  In  religion,  his  favourite 
books,  besides  the  Scriptures  and  the  English  Liturgy ,t  were  But- 
lei*,  Clarke  Seeker,  Porteus.  Of  the  classics,  Homer,  Horace^ 
Cxsar,  and  above  all,  Virgil. 

*  Johnson's  "  Lives  of  the  English  Poets,"  Yt)l-  HI.  p.  36.  Life  of  Smith. 

fit  is  deserving  of  notice,  that  although  Dr  Beattie  had  been  brought 
up  a  member  of  the  presbyterian  church  of  Scotland,  and  regularly  attend- 
ed her  worship  and  ordinances  when  at  Aberdeen,  lie  yet  gave  the  most  de- 
cided preference  to  the  churcli  of  England,  generally  attending  the  service 
of  that  church  when  any  where  from  home,  and  constantly  when  at  Peter- 
head. He  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  beauty,  simplicity,  and  energy,  of 
the  English  Liturgj^  especially  of  the  Litany,  whicli  he  declared  to  be  the 
finest  piece  of  uninspired  composition  in  any  language^ 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  49© 

His  prose-writings  were  far  from  being  calculated  merely  to 
amuse  the  fancy  and  delight  the  imagination  ;  they  were  admirably 
fitted  to  improve  and  mend  the  heart.  Of  his  celebrated  "  Essay 
"  on  Truth,"  which  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fame  as  an  autho;*, 
an  analysis  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.*  In  that  essay,  as  has 
been  shown  by  his  correspondence  with  his  philosophical  friends, 
it  was  his  professed  aim  to  combat  the  fashionable  philosophy  of 
the  sceptics  of  his  day  ;  and  it  may  be  said,  I  believe  with  justice, 
that  this  work,  of  Dr  Beattie's  did  much  towards  bringing  that  phi- 
losophy into  the  discredit  in  which  it  is  now  sunk. 

Of  his  "  Evidences  of  Christianity,"!  mention  has  already  been 
made  ;  and  it  is  perhaps  the  most  popular,  as  it  is  certainly  among 
the  most  useful,  of  his  prose-writings. 

As  a  teacher  of  ethics,  some  idea  may  be  formed  of  Jiis  abilities, 
as  well  as  af  his  system,  from  his  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science," 
which,  it  has  been  seen,|  he  published  originally  for  the  use  of  his 
pupils,  but  which  may  be  perused  with  advantage  by  every  one  who 
wishes  to  gain  some  knowledge  of  the  subject,  without  toiling 
through  elaborate  systems  of  moral  philosophy.  Those,  however, 
who  had  the  benefit  of  his  tuition,  can  best  tell  of  lus  merit  as  an  in- 
structor of  youth.  Some  of  them  I  have  heard  expatiate  with  de- 
light, on  the  unwearied  pains  he  bestowed,  not  by  the  mere  formal 
delivery  of  a  lecture,  but  by  the  continued  course  he  pursued  of  ex- 
amination and  repetition,  to  imprint  the  precepts  of  philosophy  and 
religion  on  the  minds  of  the  youth  committed  to  his  chai'ge.§  As 
a  professor,  not  his  own  class  only,  but  the  whole  body  of  students 

*  Appendix,  [Y.]  f  Supra,  p.  1S7.  \  Supra,  p.  286. 

§  I  have  been  enabled  to  give  the  following  Interesting  and  satisfactory 
account  of  his  mode  of  teaching,  by  two  gentlemen  who  had  been  his  pupils, 
to  whom  I  applied  for  that  purpose,  and  who,  without  any  mutual  comrauni- 
cadon,  furnished  me  with  the  substance  of  the  following  detail,  nearly  iti 
similar  words. 

The  ordinary  session,  or  term  of  teaching,  commences  in  Marischal  Col- 
lege on  the  first  day  of  November,  and  ends  the  first  week  of  April.  During 
that  term,  the  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  teaches  in  his  class  three  hours 
every  week-day,  viz.  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  eleven  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  except  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  when 
there  is  no  teaching  in  the  afternoon.  Dr  Beattie  began  his  Course  of  Pre- 
lections with  "  Cicero  de  Officiis."  Of  that  excellent  treatise,  he  generally 
made  his  students  carefully  read  and  translate  a  part  every  day,  at  tlie  hour 


5«0  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

at  the  university,  looked  up  to  him  with  esteem  and  veneration. 
The  profound  piety  of  the  public  prayers,  with  which  he  began  the 
bu%iness  of  each  day,  arrested  the  attention  of  the  youngest  and 
most  thoughtless :  the  excellence  of  his  moral  character,  his  gravity 
blended  with  cheerfulness,  his  strictness  joined  with  gentleness,  his 
favour  to  the  virtuous  and  diligent,  and  even  the  mildness  of  his 
reproofs  to  those  who  were  less  attentive,  rendered  him  the  object 
of  their  respect  and  admiration.  Never  was  moi'e  exact  discipline 
preserved  than  in  his  class,  nor  ever  any  where  by  more  gentle 
means.     His  sway  was  absolute,  because  it  was  founded  in  reason 

of  meetin,^  in  the  morning.  On  the  passage  then  read,  the  Professor  com- 
mented at  tlie  next  Iiour  of  meeting-,  comparing  it  with  the  other  systems  of 
the  ancient  Heathen  philosophers.  He  also,  from  time  to  time,  examined 
them  on  the  subject  of  these  lectures;  and  at  the  end  of  this  introductory 
course,  he  dictated  to  them  an  abstract  of  the  whole,  which  they  committed 
to  writing  in  the  class  • 

He  then  entered  on  the  study  of  Pneumatology,  subdivided  intoPsycbolugy 
jind  Natural  Theology,  Speculative  and  Practical  Ethics,  Economics,  yurispru- 
dence,  Politics,  Rhetoric,  and  Logic :  of  all  which  branches  of  philosophy,  he, 
in  the  same  manner,  dictated  in  the  morning  an  abstract;  on  which,  as  on  a 
text-book,  he  commented  at  his  lectures  in  the  forenoon  and  afternoon,  in  the 
clearest,  most  lively,  and  most  engaging  manner ;  examining  his  pupils,  as  he 
went  along,  on  the  attention  tliey  had  paid  to,  and  the  benefit  they  had  de- 
rived from,  his  lectures.  At  first  he  was  wont  to  dictate  the  abstract  of  his 
prelections  in  Latin,  from  which  his  pupils,  who  were  tolerable  proficients  in 
classical  learning,  derived  much  advantage  ;  as  they  acquired  thereby  the 
habit  of  speaking  and  writing  that  language  more  readily  than  they  had  been 
accustomed  to.  But  as  many  of  his  students  were  far  from  being  masters  of 
Latin,  which  he  himself  spoke  and  wrote  with  great  fluency,  he  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  discontinue  this  practice,  and  to  dictate  tlie  abstjact  of  liis  whole 
course  in  English.  After  the  publication  of  the  "  Elements  of  Moral  Science," 
which  comprehended  the  whole  of  this  abstract,  it  became  unnecessary  for 
him  to  spend,  as  formerly,  one  liour  each  day  in  dictating  notes  to  his  stu- 
dents. He  continued,  however,  in  reading  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  to 
Jinake  them  translate  as  literally  as  the  genius  of  the  English  language  would 
permit;  which,  in  his  opinion,  was  not  at  all  incompatible  with  that  intelli- 
gence and  taste,  wherewitli  even  a  pliilosoplier  peruses  those  excellent  ori- 
ginals, when  he  wishes  to  enter  fully  into  their  beauties,  and  duly  to  esti- 
mate their  i-espective  and  various  merits.  The  accuracy  of  this  account  of 
Dr  Beattie's  method  of  teaching,  may  be  ascertained,  by  comparing  it  with 
the  "Elements  of  Moral  Science,"  or  even  with  that  part  of  the  Diary  alrea- 
dy mentioned,  of  which  a./ac  simile  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  [E] 

I  See  supra,  p,  287. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  501 

-and  affection.  He  never  employed  a  harsh  epithet  in  finding  fault 
with  any  of  his  pupils  ;  and  when,  instead  of  a  rebuke,  which  they 
were  conscious  they  deserved,  they  met  merely  with  a  mild  reproof> 
it  was  conveyed  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  throw  not  only  the  delin- 
quent, but  sometimes  the  whole  class,  into  tears.  To  gain  his  fa- 
vour was  the  highest  ambition  of  every  student ;  and  the  gentlest 
word  of  disapprobation  was  a  punishment,  to  avoid  which,  no  exer- 
tion was  deemed  too  much. 

His  great  object  was  not  merely  to  make  his  pupils  philoso- 
phers, but  to  render  them  good  men,  pious  Christians,  loyal  to  their 
King,  and  attached  to  the  British  Constitution  ;  pure  in  morals, 
happy  in  the  consciousness  of  a  right  conduct,  and  friends  to  all 
mankind. 

Nor  did  he  confine  his  care  of  his  students  solely  to  their  in- 
struction while  they  attended  his  course  of  lectures.  It  was  his 
peculiar  delight  to  assist  them  in  finding  situations  for  their  future 
establishment  in  life  ;  which  he  had  it  often  in  his  power  to  pro- 
mote, by  being  frequently  applied  to  by  parents  and  others  to  pro- 
cure for  them  schoolmasters  and  teachers,  whom  his  knowledge 
of  the  genius  and  abilities  of  the  young  men,  who  had  been  his  pu- 
pils, peculiarly  enabled  him  to  discover  and  recommend.* 

No  stronger  proof  need  be  required  of  the  high  degree  of  esti- 
mation in  which  Dr  Beattie's  talents  and  virtues  were  held  by  men 
of  learning,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  than  his  having  been  sponta- 
neously elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  following  Societies  : 
*'  The  Zeeland  Society  of  Sciences  ;"t  "  The  American  Philoso- 
"  phical  Society  at  Philadelphia  ;"  "  The  Literary  and  Phiiosophi- 
^'  cal  Society  of  Manchester."  Dr  Beattie  was  also  a  Fellow  of 
"  The  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh." 

The  style  of  his  lectures  may  be  judged  of  by  that  of  the  com- 
positions which  lie   has  given  to  the  world  :  and  in  both  cases  the 

*  In  perusing  the  voluniinous  collection  of  letters  which  he  had  received, 
it  was  extremely  pleasing-  to  find  so  great  a  number  from  young  men  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  particularly  America  and  the  West  Indies,  who 
had  attended  his  lectures  ;  all  of  them  expressing  their  gratitude  for  tlie 
benefit  they  bad  reaj-ed  from  liis  tuition,  and  some  of  them  for  the  advanta-; 
geous  situations  they  had  obtained  through  his  means. 

f  The  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  very  soon  after  its  publication,  liad  been  trans- 
lated in  Holland  into  the  Dutch  langu:igo. 


502  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

best  quality  of  it  was,  that  it  was  the  style  of  a  man  #ho  spoke  and 
wrote  in  "  simplicity  and  in  earnest.*  The  language  in  which  he 
was  to  Avrite,  he  studied  profoundly.  He  has  himself  said,  that  the 
qualities  at  which  he  chiefly  aimed  were  perspicuity,  simplicity, 
and  elegance  ;  and  knowing  how  well  these  were  attainable  by  the 
genuine  purity  of  the  English  language,  he  was  a  decided  enemy 
to  all  innovations  in  writing,  by  the  introduction  of  new  words  and 
affected  phraseology.  Of  ail  our  English  writers,  Addison  was  the 
author  whom  he  most  admired  ;  whose  style,  therefore,  he  most 
carefully  studied,  and  which  he  adopted  as  his  model  in  composi- 
tion. In  his  eai-lier  writings  the  effect  of  this  admiration  is  visible  : 
but  afterwards,  when  success  had  taught  him  a  little  more  confi- 
dence in  his  own  powers,  he  seems  occasionally  to  lose  sight  of  his 
model,  and  to  break  forth  into  a  fulness  of  expression,  which  re- 
minds us  of  the  force  and  freedom  of  the  prefaces  of  Dryden.  One 
undoubted  excellence  of  his  style  is  its  variety,  its  power  of  ex- 
pressing whatever  he  thought  or  felt,  and  of  communicating 
to  the  reader  the  same  thoughts  and  the  same  sentiments.  On 
moral  subjects,  it  is  grave  and  manly  :  on  subjects  of  science  and 
philosophy;  it  is  pure  and  perspicuous  to  a  degree  that  has  been 
seldom  equalled  :  but  on  subjects  Avhere  his  heart  or  his  imagina- 
tion are  interested,  it  rises  to  greater  richness  and  elevation,  and 
abounds  in  those  delicate  but  undefineable  touches  of  fancy  and  of 
feeling,  which  characterise  the  works  of  the  masters  in  composition, 
and  which  are  never  attainable  by  ordinary  writers.  Yet  in  thus 
aiming  at  simplicity,  he  was  far  from  losing  sight  of  sublimity  of 
diction,  of  which  many  striking  instances  in  his  prose-writings  win 
occur  to  every  attentive  reader. t 

*  Bishop  Butler's  preface  to  his  Sermons. 

t  I  need  only  instance  here,  his  Reflections  on  the  Contemplation  of  the 
Works  of  Nature;*  on  National  Music;!  the  Description  of  the  Highlands 
and  Southern  Provinces  of  Scotland  ;|  on  Personification  ;§  his  Comparison 
of  the  Wnting-s  and  Genius  of  Dryden  and  Pope  ;|)  the  Character  of 
Swift  ;^  the  Discrimination  of  the  Characters  of  Homer's  and  Virgil's  He- 
roes;** Strictures  on  Gray's  Ode.ff     On  reading  these,  and  many  similar 

•  Essay  on  Poetrj-  and  Music,  p.  369,  370.  390.  t  Ibid.  p.  474. 

i  Ibid.  p.  479, 480, 481, 482,  483.  §  Ibid.  p.  548.  [1  Ibid.  p.  358. 

*ribkL  p.  378,379.  *»  Ibid.  p.  398— 415.  ft  Ibid.  p.  559. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  503 

Throughout  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  Dr  Beattie  was  most 
exemplary  in  the  discharge  of  the  relative  duties  of  a  son,  a  bro- 
ther, a  husband,  a  father,  and  a  friend.  Of  his  conduct  towards 
his  unhappy  wife,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  in  terms  of  too  high 
commendation.  It  has  already  been  mentioned,*  that  Mrs  Beattie 
had  the  misfortune  to  inherit  from  her  mother,  that  most  dreadful 
of  all  human  ills,  a  distempered  imagination,  which,  in  a  very  few 
years  after  their  marriage,  showed  itself  in  caprices  and  folly  that, 
embittered  every  hour  of  his  life,  while  he  strove  at  first  to  conceal 
her  disorder  from  the  world,  and,  if  possible,  as  he  has  been  heard 
to  say,  to  conceal  it  even  from  himself;  till  at  last  froin  whim,  and 
caprice,  and  melancholy,  it  broke  out  into  downright  insanity, 
which  I'endered  her  seclusion  from  society  absolutely  necessary. 
During  every  stage  of  her  illness,  he  watched  and  cherished  her 
with  the  utmost  tenderness  and  care  ;  using  every  means  at  first, 
that  medicine  could  fvirnish,  for  her  recovery,  and  afterwards,  when 
her  condition  was  found  to  be  perfectly  hopeless,  procuring  for  her 
every  accommodation  and  comfort  that  could  tend  to  alleviate  her 
sufferings. t  When  I  reflect  on  the  many  sleepless  nights  and 
anxious  days,  which  he  experienced  from  Mrs  Beattie's  malady, 
and  think  of  the  unwearied  and  unremitting  attention  he  paid  to  her, 
during  so  great  a  number  of  years,  in  that  sad  situation,  his  character 
is  exalted  in  my  mind  to  a  degree  which  may  be  equalled,  but  I  am 
sui'e  never  can  be  excelled,  and  makes  the  fiime  of  the  poet  anck 
the  philosopher  fade  from  my  remembrance. 

The  strictness  and  regularity  of  Dr  Beattie's  piety  was  shown, 
not  merely  by  a  regular  attendance,  while  his  health  permitted,  on 

passages  in  hia  works,  I  have  been  often  disposed  to  apply  to  him  the  ex- 
quisite  praise  which  Cowley  bestows  on  a  much  inferior  writer  : 

"  His  candid  style  like  a  clear  stream  does  flow; 
"  And  his  bright  fancy  all  the  way 
"  Does,  like  the  sunshine,  on  it  play." 

CoWLEv's  Ode  on  the  Royal  Society. 

*  See  p.  74. 

f  Of  this  last  part  of  Dr  Beattie's  conduct,  I  am  fully  able  to  speak 
from  my  own  personal  knowledge  ;  as,  during  several  years,  I  liad  the  sole 
charge  of  her  and  her  concerns,  while  she  resided  at  no  great  distance  fron> 
Edinburgh.     She  still  survives  Inm  in  the  same  meknclioly  condition. 


504  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

the  public  ordinances  of  religion,  but  by  the  more  certain  tin^  une- 
quivocal testimony  of  private  devotion.  I  have  been  informed  by 
his  niece,  Mrs  Glennie,  that  after  he  had  retired  at  night  to  his 
chamber,  she  frequently  overheard  his  voice  rendered  audible  in 
the  ardour  of  prayer.  And  she  has  also  told  me,  that  even 
throughout  the  day,  when  she  knew  his  spirits  to  be  more  than 
usually  depressed,  while  he  thought  himself  alone,  she  could  occa- 
sionally perceive  that  he  Avas  offering  up  his  orisons  to  Heaven 
with  the  utmost  fervour.  His  pious  resignation  to  the  Divine  Will, 
under  some  of  the  hardest  trials  that  "  flesh  is  heir  to,"  was  indeed 
but  too  severely  proved  during  the  greatest  part  of  his  life  ;  but  it  is 
consoling  to  know,  that  it  was  not  tried  in  vain. 

Great  tenderness  of  heart,  and  the  keenest  sensibility  of  soul, 
qualities  very  frequently  the  concomitants  of  genius,  were  emi- 
nently conspicuous  in  the  character  of  Dr  Beattie.  They  rendered 
him  "  tremblingly  alive"  to  the  sorrows  and  the  sufferings  of 
others,  and  produced  in  him  the  warmest  emotions  of  friendship, 
with  an  earnest  desire  to  perform  every  service  in  his  power  to  all 
within  his  reach. 

It  must  not  be  dissembled  at  the  same  time,  that  Dr  Beattie 
was  not  altogether  free  from  prejudices:  But  they  were  most 
commonly  prejudices  of  an  amiable  kind,  He  loved  virtue  where- 
ever  he  found  it ;  and  as  he  had  the  happiness  of  numbering  among 
his  friends  some  of  the  best  and  most  accomplished  characters  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived,  he  returned  their  kindness  with  ardour 
and  enthusiasm.  If  there  was  an  affection  of  his  nature  more 
strong  than  any  other,  it  was  that  of  gratitude.  To  those,  there- 
fore, who  had  spontaneously  undertaken  to  promote  his  interest,  he 
thought  he  never  could  declare  too  strongly  the  sense  he  entertain- 
ed of  their  kindness.  This  sentiment,  which  on  every  occasion  he 
proclaimed  so  loudly,  he  did  not  confine  to  mere  expressions  of 
gratitude  for  favours  conferred  on  him  :  it  led  him  to  form  a  judg- 
ment even  of  their  writings,  if  they  were  literary  characters,  which 
could  not  but  be  considered  as  sometimes  a  good  deal  exaggerated. 
In  the  same  manner,  instances  might  be  produced,  where  he  had 
carried  antipathies  to  particular  persons,  and  to  their  writings, 
somewhat  beyond  the  measure  of  due  discretion.  In  both  cases, 
hovever,  it  was  very  readily  allowed,  that  he  never  uttered  a  sylla- 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  505 

ble,  either  of  commendation  or  dislike,  which  he  himself  did  not 
believe  to  be  perfectly  well-founded. 

It  is  a  curious  circumstance,  that  although  when  at  school  and 
college  he  had  been  admired  and  loved  by  his  companions  for  his 
mild  and  gentle  disposition,  it  was  remarked  by  his  most  intimate 
friends,  at  a  more  advanced  period  of  life,  that  he  had  become  not 
a" little  irritable  by  a  continued  application  to  metaphysical  contro- 
versy. This  habit,  however  respected  authors  rather  than  men  ; 
and  as  it  gave  little  or  no  disturbance  to  those  around  him,  was 
easily  overlooked  by  his  friends,  in  the  multitude  of  his  amiable 
qualities,  and  was  often  rather  a  subject  of  pleasantry  to  them  than 
otherwise. 

In  his  disposition  he  was  humane  and  charitable.  And  it  has 
been  told  of  him  by  his  family,  that  no  suppliant,  to  his  knowledge, 
ever  went  from  his  door  unsatisfied. 

I  have  already  remarked,  that  he  was  a  passionate  admirer  of 
the  beavities  of  nature;  delighting  to  walk  out  into  the  fields,  some- 
times in  the  company  of  a  friend,  but  more  frequently  by  himself, 
either  when  oppressed  by  those  violent  headachs,  to  which  he  had 
been  subject  from  his  youth,  or  when  struggling  under  the  weight 
of  domestic  affliction.  In  those  solitary  walks  it  was,  that  he  was 
woiit  to  indulge  in  silent  and  profound  meditation  on  the  studies  in 
which  he  was  engaged.  In  committing  his  thoughts  to  paper, 
afterwards,  he  was  laborious  in  the  extreme  ;  very  rarely  making 
use  of  an  amanuensis,  but  constantly  and  repeatedly  transcribing 
his  works  in  his  correct,  neat,  and  beautiful  hand-writing. 

Dr  Beattie  was  fond  of  society  ;  and  while  Mrs  Beattie's  health 
permitted  her  to  appear,  he  saw  a  good  deal  of  company,  and  much 
enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  having  his  friends  with  him  at  his  table, 
chiefly  at  dinner,  except  when  he  had  musical  parties  at  night. 
But  he  had  a  great  dislike  to  cards,  which,  however,  he  expressed 
in  the  gentlest  manner,  by  saying  with  much  good  humour,  that 
he  never  had  capacity  sufficient  to  learn  any  game.  To  chess  he 
had  a  real  aversion,  as  occasioning,  in  his  opinion,  a  great  waste  of 
time,  and  requiring  an  useless  application  of  thought. 

His  conversation  on  moral  and  literary  subjects  was  in  the 
highest  degree  instructive  and  entertaining  ;  and  so  much  was  his 


5U6  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

company  valued  and  sought  after,  that  in  his  best  days,  he  was  not 
aljle  to  comply  with  half  the  invitations  he  received  from  persons 
eminent  for  their  rank,  character,  and  learning.  In  the  midst  of  a 
select  party  of  his  private  friends,  and  in  his  little  domestic  circle, 
he  was  uncommonly  cheerful,  animated,  and  pleasant ;  indulging 
himself  in  frequent  sallies  of  playful  but  innocent  mirth.  He  was 
even  fond  of  the  amusement  of  a  pun  ;  in  which,  however,  it  must 
be  confessed,  he  was  not  always  very  successful.  He  wished,  in- 
deed, to  be  thought  to  possess  a  certain  degree  of  wit  and  humour,, 
especially  when  in  company  with  some  of  our  mvitual  friends,  such 
as  Major  Mercer  and  Mr  Arbuthnot,  who  were  endowed  with  more 
of  these  qualities  than  almost  any  men  I  ever  knew  ;  but  in  which 
Dr  Beattie  followed  them  "  /mud  passibiis  ceqids." 

His  mornings,  during  the  winter  season  of  the  university,  were 
chiefly  employed  in  attendance  on  his  class,  and  in  taking  the  exer- 
cise necessary  for  his  health,  sometimes  on  horseback,  but  more 
frequently  on  foot,  for  he  took  particular  delight  in  walking.  The 
evening,  when  not  engaged  with  company,  was  his  time  for  seri- 
ous study  :  but  after  supper,  he  dedicated  his  hours  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  his  family,  by  i-eading  aloud  such  books  of  entertainment 
as  came  occasionally  in  his  way,  or  in  social  conversation  ;  and  to 
the  young  people  around  him  he  was  always  exceedingly  indul- 
gent. During  the  summer,  as  he  was  not  engaged  with  the  busi- 
ness of  the  college,  he  could  afford  to  devote  more  of  his  hours  to 
study,  yet  still  he  dedicated  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  to 
exei'cise  and  to  the  society  of  his  friends.  As  an  exercise,  he 
was  fond  of  archery,  and  used  it  long  enough  to  arrive  at 
,some  dexterity  in  the  practice,  until  he  grew  so  corpulent  that 
it  fatigued  him,  and  this  obliged  him  to  lay  it  aside. 

Although  Dr  Beattie's  acquaintance  in  early  life  had  been  of  the 
humblest  sort,  and  even  after  his  removal  from  the  parochial 
school  of  Fordoun  to  Aberdeen,  had  been  of  a  rank  very  inferior 
to  that  in  which  he  came  afterwards  to  be  introduced,  yet  he  show- 
ed no  awkwardness  of  behaviour  in  the  most  exalted  and  polished 
circles.  And  it  must  be  I'ecorded  to  his  praise,  that  notwithstand- 
ing he  had  been  caressed  by  the  great  and  the  learned  in  England, 
in  a  degree  beyond  most  authors  of  his  day,  he  returned  to  his  na- 
tive country  unspoiled  by  prosperity,  and  as  humble  and  unassum- 
-ing  in  his  manners  as  he  had  left  it. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  507 

To  a  very  correct  and  refined  taste  in  judging  of  poetry,  paint- 
ing, and  music,  he  added  the  rare  accomplishment  of  some  actual 
practice  in  each.  Of  his  skill  in  poetical  composition,  enough  has 
been  already  said.  Of  music,  he  was  remarkably  fond.  He  loved 
all  kinds  of  good  music,  but  especially  that  of  the  old  school,  and 
the  simple  but  enchanting  melodies  of  our  own  country.  His  fa- 
vorite masters  were  Corelli,  Handel,  Purcel,  Pergolese,  Gemini- 
ani,  Avison,  Jackson.  He  not  only  understood  the  theory  of  music, 
but  he  occasionally  amused  himself  by  composing  basses  and 
second  parts  to  some  of  his  favourite  airs.  He  was  delighted  with 
the  organ,  on  which  he  often  played  simple  harmonies ;  and  he 
performed  with  taste  and  expression  on  the  violoncello.  He  sung 
a  little  ;  but  his  voice  was  loud,  and  deficient  in  mellowness.  In 
his  best  days,  he  was  a  regular  attendant,  and  an  useful  direc- 
tor of  the  weekly  concert  at  Aberdeen,  where  he  was  generally 
at  the  same  time  a  performer  on  the  violoncello.*  In  the  other 
sister  art  of  painting,  he  excelled  in  drawing  grotesque  figures  and 
caricatures  of  striking  resemblance  ;  although  in  this  last  talent, 
he  very  sparingly  indulged  himself,  and  at  an  early  period  of  life 
laid  it  entirely  aside.  Once  in  company  with  a  few  friends,  he 
drew  three  or  four  of  these  for  our  amusement,  as  we  sat  at  table, 
which  I  carried  away  with  me,  by  his  permission  ;  and  I  presume 
they  are  the  only  specimens  of  his  excellence  in  that  species  of 
design  now  existing.  I  believe  I  may  say,  that  although  I  have 
known  many  who  could  practise  two  of  the  sister  arts  variously 
combined,  such  as  poetry  and  music,  or  painting  and  poetry,  Dr 
Beattie  is  the  sole  instance  of  my  own  acquaintance,  at  least,  of  a 
person  who  possessed  the  happy  talent  of  being  able  to  practise, 
with  some  success,  in  all  the  three. 

It  has  been  sometimes  said,  I  believe,  that  Dr  Beattie,  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  indulged  rather  too  much  hi  the  use  of  wine. 
In  one  of  his  letters,  he  intimates,  that  he  found  it  necessary  as  a 

*  His  musical  entertainment  was  once  unluckily  suspended,  by  his  acci- 
dentally cutting-  the  tendon  of  the  middle  fing-er  of  the  left-hand,  so  necessary 
in  the  use  of  that  instrument.  But  in  time  he  arrived  at  the  dexterity  of  per- 
forming all  the  stops,  readily  and  accurately,  vvith  the  three  remaining  fin- 
gers. Although  he  ceased  to  perform  any  longer  in  public,  he  continued  to 
amuse  himself  and  his  friends  in  private  as  before,  until  after  tlie  death  of 
his  sons . 


508  LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE. 

medicine.  "  My  health,"  says  he,  (writing  to  Mr.  Arbuthnot) 
*'  for  these  ten  days  past,  has  been  declining  very  fast,  W^ith  the 
"  present  pressure  upon  my  mind,  I  should  not  be  able  to  sleep,  if 
"  I  did  not  use  wine  as  an  opiate.  It  is  less  hurtful  than  laudanum, 
"  but  not  so  effectual."  Wine  used  for  this  sad  purpose,  might 
sometimes  possibly  exceed  its  due  limits.  Had  tlus  really  been 
the  case,  who  would  be  much  surprised,  when  it  is  considered, 
that,  in  the  decline  of  his  life,  almost  every  day  was  embit:ered 
by  the  unfortunate  derangement  of  his  wife,  by  the  loss  of  both  liis 
sons,  by  his  own  increasing  maladies  of  body,  and  the  deepening 
depression  of  his  mind  ?  Who  would  wonder,  (though  every  one 
would  lament)  if,  under  such  extraordinary  circumstances,  re- 
course should  sometimes  be  had  to  the  cordial  powers  of  wine  to 
blunt  the  edge  of  pain,  and  deaden  the  sense  of  sufferings,  too 
acute  to  be  borne  ?  Over  failings  arising  from  sucli  sources  as  these, 
(even  if  they  had  been  real)  the  hand  of  pity  and  charity  would 
draw  the  veil  of  silence  and  oblivion  :  Yet  I  must  solemnly  declare, 
that  although  I  have  often  seen  him  in  the  hours  both  of  melan- 
choly and  gaiety,  and  although  he  has  occasionally  resided  at  our 
house  for  weeks  together,  I  never  once  saw  him  disposed  to  any 
excess  of  this  kind. 

In  his  person,  Dr  Beattie  was  of  the  middle  size,  though  not 
elegantly,  yet  not  awkwardly  formed,  but  with  something  of  a 
slouch  in  his  gait.  His  eyes  were  black  and  piercing,  with  an  ex- 
pression of  sensibility,  somewhat  bordering  on  melancholy,  except 
when  engaged  in  cheerful  and  social  intercourse  with  his  friends, 
when  they  were  exceedingly  animated.  As  he  advanced  in  years, 
and  became  incapable  of  taking  his  usual  degree  of  exercise,  he 
grew  corpulent  and  unwieldly,  till  within  a  few  months  of  his  death, 
when  he  had  greatly  decreased  in  size.  Wlien  I  last  saw  him,  the 
diminution  of  his  form  was  but  too  prophetic  of  the  event  that  soon 
followed. 


Here  I  close  my  account  of  the  Life  of  Dr  Beattie  ;  through- 
out the  whole  of  which  I  am  not  conscious  of  having,  in  any  res- 
pect, misrepresented  either  his  actions  or  his  character  ;  and  of 
whom  to  record  the  truth  is  his  best  praise. 


LIFE  OF  DR  BEATTIE.  509 

On  thus  reviewing  the  long  period  of  forty  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  the  commencement  of  our  intimacy,  it  is  impossible 
for  rae  not  to  be  deeply  affected,  by  the  reflection,  that  of  the  nu- 
merous friends  with  whom  he  and  I  were  wont  to  associate,  at  the 
period  of  our  earliest  acquaintance,  all,  I  think  except  three,  have 
already  paid  their  debt  to  nature  ;  and  that  in  no  long  time  (how 
soon  is  known  only  to  Him,  the  great  Disposer  of  all  events)  my 
gray-hairs  shall  sink  into  the  grave,  and  I  also  shall  be  numbered 
with  those  who  have  been.  May  a  situation  so  awful  make  its  due 
impression  on  my  mind  1  and  may  it  be  my  earnest  endeavour  to 
employ  that  short  portion  of  life  which  yet  remains  to  me,  in  such 
a  manner,  as  that  when  that  last  dread  hour  shall  come,  in  which 
my  soul  shall  be  required  of  me,  I  may  look  forward  with  trembling- 
hope  to  a  happy  immortality,  tnrough  the  merits  and  mediation  of 
our  ever-blessed  Redeemer ! 


APPENDIX. 


NOTES  AjYD  illustrations. 


Note  [A.]  p.  12. 
IT  was  once  my  intention  to  have  inserted  here  the  diary  Dr  Beattie 
had  kept  of  liis  perusal  of  Homer,  in  which  he  had  scrupulously  marked  the 
number  of  days  he  had  bestowed  on  each  book.  But  on  farther  reflection, 
I  have  chosen  to  omit  the  diary,  as  this  exertion  of  study  does  not  seem  to 
exceed  what  any  young  man,  with  no  very  extraordinary  degree  of  applica- 
tion, may  accomplish;  and,  as  the  work  has  swelled  in  bulk  much  beyond 
my  original  expectation,  I  am  unwilling  to  add  to  it  by  the  insertion  of  what 
is  imnecessary.  I  may  just  add,  however,  that  he  has  been  often  heard  to 
say,  that  it  was  this  first  careful  perusal  of  Homer,  that  gave  him  a  just  con- 
ception of  the  true  nature  of  epic  poetry.  How  beautifully  and  correctly  he 
has  expressed  his  ideas  of  the  Epopee  in  his  ''  Essay  on  Poetry,"  is  known 
to  every  reader  of  taste.  He  has  concluded  his  diary  witii  the  following  ap>. 
posite  qootation  : 

"  Qiii  cupit  optatam  cursu  contingere  metanj, 
■"  Multa  tulit  fecitque  puer." 

HoRAT. 

Note  [B.]  p.  16. 
There  have,  no  doubt,  been  many  extraordinary  and  well-attested  instan- 
ces of  somnambulism  ;*  and  an  anecdote  of  the  late  Dr  Blacklock  is  not  less 
remarkable  than  any  other  to  be  met  with.  It  is  mentioned  in  Dr  Cleghorn's 
thesis,  "  De  Somno,"  as  having  happened  at  the  inn  at  Kirkcudbright  iti 
Scotland,  and  authenticated  by  the  testimony  of  Mrs  Blacklock,  who  is  still 
alive,  and  was  present  with  a  numerous  company  of  liis  friends,  who  dined 
witli  liim  that  day.  But  as  it  is  already  in  print,-f  I  am  unwilling  to  sw»ll 
this  Appendix  by  inserting  it  here. 

*  "  Encyclflpsedia  Britannica,"  Vol  XVII  p.  534. 

t  See  Anderson's  "  Poets  of  Qire^t  Britain,"  Vpl.  II.p.U54.    Lrfe  of  Bla»klock. 


512  APPE^STDIX 

Note  [C]  p.  20, 

Copy  of  the  last    Will  and   Testa7nent  of  J am^^s  Beattie,  LL,  D. 
written  by  his  own  Hand.,  and  dated  20th  July.,    1799. 

I  James  Beattie,  Doctor  of  Laws,  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  and 
Logic  in  Marischal  Colleg-e,  Aberdeen,  willing  to  prevent  all  dispute  and 
litigation  about  the  property  I  may  leave  behind  me  at  death ;  and  being-  at 
present,  by  the  goodness  of  God,  in  soundness  of  mind,  and  in  my  usual 
bodily  health,  do  make  my  last  will  and  testament  as  follows  :  To  the  per- 
sons after  mentioned  as  the  executors  of  tins  my  \yill,  namely,  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Forbes,  Baronet,  of  Pitsligo ;  to  Robert  Arbuthnot,  Esq.  secretary  to 
the  Trustees,  8cc.  in  Edinburgh  ;  to  Major  James  Mercer,  formerly  of  the 
forty  ninth  regiment ;  and  to  James  Farquhar  Gordon,  Esq.  writer  to  the 
signet,  I  bequeath  in  trust,  after  payment  of  all  my  just  debts,  to  be  lent  or 
laid  out  by  them,  on  sufficient  heritable  security,  the  sum  of  *****  pounds 
stej-lnjg ;.  and  I  appoint  the  legal  interest  thereof  t«  be  applied  yearl\  by 
them  for  the  use  and  behoof  of  my  wife,  Mary  Ekin  ;  and  this  to  continue  all 
tUe  days  of  her  life  ;  hoping  that  this  provision,  with  **•*-*  pounds  sterling, 
a-year,  to  which  slie  will  be  entitled  from  tke  Widows  Fund,*  will  be  fully 
suSicient  for  her  comfortable  support :  To  my  uiece,  Margaret  Valentine, 
W-ife  of  Mr  Professor  Glennie  of  Marisch  il  College,  Aberdeen,  I  bequeath 
*******  pounds  sterling  ;  and  to  her  the  said,  Margaret  Valeutine,  to  whom  I 
j^nd'  my  children,  while  I  bad  cliildrea,  we:re  under  great,  obligations,,  I  also 
bequeath  all  my  household  furniture,  and  all  my  books  and  other  moveables, 
except  few  books  and  moveables  after  mentioned,  which  I  leave  as  memo- 
I'ials  of  me  to  other  friends;  to  her  also  the  said  Margaret  V. dentine,  1  be- 
queath my  picture  by  my  dear  friend.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  deceased,  who 
made  me  a  present  of  it,  of  which  picture  I  know  she  v\iU  be  particularly 
careful,  from  her  regard  to  me,  and  on  account  of  the  great  mei-it  of  the 
work  :  To  my  excellent  friend,  Sir  William  Forbes,  Baronet,  of  Pitsligo,  I 
bequeath,  as  a  small  memorial  of  our  friendship,  my  silver  watch,  with  a 
stop  and  second  hand,  made  with  particular  care  by  Gartly,  and  also  the  two 
splendid  volr.mes  in  quarto  of  Lavater's  "  Physiognomy,"  which  will  be 
found  among  my  other  books  :  To  my  dear  friend,  Robert  Arbuihr.ot,  Esq. 
secretary  to  the  Trustees,  8ic.  in  Edinburgh,  I  bequeath  my  gold-headed 
cane,  which  I  received  as  a  present  from  the  late  William,  Lord  Nev.liaven, 
and  also  my  gold  ring  with  the  King's  liead  by  Tassie,  which  ring  I  Lad  the 
honour  to  I'eceive  from  George,  Lord  Onslow :  To  the  Rev.  Dr  William 
Laing  in  Peterhead,  to  whom  as  a  friend  and  a?  a  physician  I  have  often 
been  obliged,  I  bequeath  all  my  music  books,  together  with  '  "***  pounds 
sterling,  and  the  telescope  which  he  made  for  me :  and  to  Miss  Beattie 
Laing,  his  second  daughter,  I  bequeatii  the  organ   which  was  built  bj'  my 

*  A  fund  established  by  actof  Pailiamcnt,  for  the  payment  of  annuities  to  the  widows  of  the 
clergy  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  and  the  widows  of  the  professors  of  the  universities  in  that  \->-wt 
of  the  united  kingdom.    An  excellent  institntion  ! 


APPENDIX.  513 

deceased  son,  James  Hay  Beattie,  and  which  is  now,  and  for  some  time  past 
has  been,  in  the  dwelUng-house  of  the  said  Di"  Laing :  To  my  brother,  Da- 
vid Beattie,  I  bequeath  *****  pounds  sterling;  and  I  desire  that  [my  bond, 
accepted  by  him  for  *******  povmds  stei'ling,  which  I  lent  him,  and  on  which 
more  than  thirteen  years  interests  are  now  due,  may  be  cancelled  and  sent 
to  him :  To  my  sister's  son,  James  Dewars  or  Duers,  I  bequeath  ***** 
pounds  sterling :  I  beg,  my  dear  friend,  James  Mercer,  Esq.  formerly  Ma- 
jor of  the  forty-ninth  regiment,  will  accept  of  my  Olivet's  Cicero  in  nine 
volumes  quarto,  and  of  my  Clarke's  Homer  in  two  volumes  quarto,  as  a 
small  acknowledgment  of  the  pleasui-e  and  improvement,  which  for  almost 
forty  years  I  have  derived  from  his  conversation  and  friendship  :  To  the 
Poors  Hospital  of  Aberdeen,  I  bequeath  ******  pounds  sterling  ;  and 
to  the  Lunatic  Hospital  of  Aberdeen,  I  bequeath  the  same  sum  of 
******  pounds.  And  after  paying  these  several  legacies,  I  order  and 
appoint,  that  what  may  remain  of  my  property  may  be  equally  divided 
between  my  said  niece,  Margaret  Valentine,  and  her  brother,  David  Valen- 
tine, Lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Navy  ;  recommending  it  to  them  to  give  such 
pecuniary  assistance  as  they  may  judge  reasonable  to  my  brother  David 
Beattie's  children.  And  this  I  declare  to  be  my  last  will  and  testament. 
And  I  appoint  and  nominate  the  said  Sir  William  Forbes,  Baronet,  of  Plt- 
sligo,  the  said  Robert  Arbuthnot,  Esq.  the  said  Major  James  Mercer,  and 
the  said  James  Farquhar  Gordon,  Esq.  jointly,  or  any  two  of  them  accept- 
ing and  surviving,  to  be  the  executors  of  this  my  last  will  and  testament, 
bequeathing  to  each  of  these  executors  the  sum  of  ****  pounds  sterling,  as 
a  small  acknowledgment  for  their  trouble  in  executing-  this  my  said  will  : 
Reserving  to  myself  the  privilege  of  making  at  any  time,  by  a  codicil  or  co- 
dicils annexed,  or  in  any  other  way  I  may  think  proper,  such  alterations  in, 
or  additions  to,  this  my  will,  as  may  to  me  appear  reasonable.  In  witness 
whereof,  these  presents,  written  with  my  own  liand  on  this  and  the  preced- 
ing page,  are  subscribed  by  me  at  Aberdeen,  the  twentieth  day  of  July,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years,  before  these  witnesses,  John 
Arthur,  sacrist  of  Marisclial  College,  and  George  Pirie,  porter  of  Maris- 
chal  College. 

(Signed)  J.  Beattie. 

(Signed)         JoH^r  Arthur,  witness. 
George  Pirie,  witness. 

Note  [D.]  p.  21. 
James,  the  fourteenth  Earl  of  Erroll,  was  the  eldest  son  of  William  the 
unfortunate  Earl  of  Kilmarnock,  (who  lost  his  head  on  Tower-Hill,  18th 
August,  1746,)  by  Lady  Anne  Livingston,  only  child  and  heiress  of  James, 
Earl  of  Linlithgow  and  Callander,  by  Lady  Margaret  Hay,  second  daughter 
of  John,  twelfth  Earl  of  Erroll ;  on  the  death  of  whose  Eldest  sister,  Mary, 
Countess  of  Erroll  in  her  own  right,  in  the  year  175S,  her  grand-nephew, 
known  at  that  time  by  the  title  of  Lord  Boyd,  as  eldest  son  of  Lord  Kilmar- 
nock, succeeded  to  tlie  earldom  and  estate  of  Erroll ,  thus  uniting  in  his 

3  T 


514  APPENDIX. 

person  the  four  earldoms  of  Erroll,  Kilmarnock,  Linlithgt)\v,  and  Callan- 
der,* as  well  as  the  ancient  dignity  of  Lord  High  Constable  of  Scotland, 
which  had  been  long  enjoyed  by  the  Earls  of  Erroll,  and  had  been  reserved 
to  them  by  the  Articles  of  Union  of  the  two  kingdoms,  as  well  as  by  the  act 
of  Parliament  abolishing  the  heritable  jurisdictions  of  Scotland  in  the  year 
1749. 

I  cannot  better  delineate  the  character  of  this  amiable  and  accomplished 
nobleman,  than  by  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  Dr  Beattie  to  Mrs 
Montagu,  giviirg  her  an  account  of  Lord  Erroll's  deatli,  wliich  happened  the 
od  June,  1778,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his  age. 

"  Lord  Erroll's  death,  of  which  you  must  have  heard,  is  a  great  loss  to  this 
"  country,  and  matter  of  unspeakable  regret  to  his  friends.  I  owed  him 
"  much  :  but,  independently  on  all  considerations  of  gratitude,  I  had  a  sin- 
"  cere  liking  and  very  great  esteem  for  him.  In  his  maimers  he  was  wonder- 
*'  fully  agreeable,  a  most  affectionate  and  attentive  parent,  husband,  and 
"  brother,  elegant  in  his  economy,  and  perhaps  expensive,  yet  exact  and  me- 
*'  thodical.  He  exerted  his  influence  as  a  man  of  rank  and  a  magistrate  in 
"  doing  good  to  all  the  neighbourhood  ;  and  it  has  often  been  mentioned  to 
"  his  honour,  that  no  man  ever  administered  an  oath  with  a  more  pious  and 
"  commanding  solemnity  than  he.  He  was  regular  in  his  attendance  upon 
'•  public  worship,  and  exemplary  in  the  performance  of  it.  In  a  word, 
"  he  was  adored  by  his  servants,  a  blessing  to  his  tenants,  and  the  darling 
"of  the  whole  country.  His  stature  was  six  feet  four  inches,  and  his  pro- 
•'  poi'tions  most  exact.  His  countenance  and  deportment  exhibited  such  a 
"  mixture  of  the  sublime  and  the  graceful,  as  I  have  never  seen  united  in 
"  any  other  man.  He  often  put  me  in  mind  of  an  ancient  hero  ;  and  I  re- 
"  member  Dr  Samuel  Johnson  was  positive,  that  he  resembled  Homer's 
*'  character  of  Sarpedon." 

To  the  truth  of  every  part  of  this  accoimt  by  Dr  Beattie,  of  the  late  Lord 
Erroll,  I  can  bear  ample  testimony;  as  I  had  the  happiness  of  his  Lord- 
ship's acquaintance,  and  was  honoured  with  his  friendship,  of  which  he  gave 
me  a  strong  proof,  by  appointing  m.e  one  of  the  guardians  of  his  children. 
I  may  add,  that  were  I  desired  to  specify  the  man  of  the  most  graceful 
form,  the  most  elegant,  polished,  and  popular  manners,  whom  I  have  ever 
known  in  my  long  intercourse  with  society,  I  siiould  not  hesitate  to  name 
James,  Earl  of  EitoU.  At  the  coronation  of  his  present  Majesty,  Lord 
Erroll  officiated  as  Lord  High  Constable  of  Scotland. 

Note  [E.]  p.  22. 
The  diary,  as  I  have  it,  commences  on  the  6th  January,  1762,  on  the  re- 
assembling of  his  class  after    tiie  Christmas   holidays :  but  as  it  refers    on 
the  top  of  the  page  to  a  former  diary   of  the  preceding  part  of  that  ses- 
sion, it  had  most  probably  comprehended  the  whole  period  of  his  lectures 

•  The  three  last  had  been  attainted  in  the  persons  of  the  Earl  of  Linlithgow  .tnd  Callander 
ih  the  year  nis,  and  of  the  Earl  of  Kilmarnock  in  the  year  1745 :  F.ut  had  those  attainders  nor 
taken  i>;acc,  the  right  of  succession  to  those  dignities  centered  in  Lord  Erroll, 


APPENDIX.  515 

trom  their  commencement.  It  is  written  with  uncommon  neatness,  and 
even  elegance  of  penmanship,  to  which  he  was  always  extremely  attentive, 
in  the  form  of  a  kalendar,  and  continued  without  interruption  to  he  2d 
April,  when  the  winter-session  of  the  year  1792-3  was  closed  with  the  usual 
graduation  of  masters  of  arts.  When  the  delicate  state  of  his  health  is  con- 
sidered, shattered  as  it  was  by  intense  application  to  study  in  tlie  compo- 
sition of  his  various  works,  it  must  appear  wonderful,  that  he  was  able  to 
deliver  his  lectures  from  year  to  year,  with  so  little  interruption  from  indis- 
position. 

Note,  [F*.]  p.  26. 

I  am  indebted  for  this  account  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Aberdeen, 
not  only  to  their  manuscript  records,  now  In  my  possession,  but  to  the  Life 
of  Dr  Gregory,  prefixed  to  his  works,  p.  37.  This  elegant  account  of  the 
late  Dr  Gregory  is  anonymous.  But  it  is  well  known  to  be  written  by  my 
friend  the  Honourable  Alexander  Fraser  Tytler,  Lord  Woodhouseiee,  ouq-. 
of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Civil  Court  of  Law  of  Scotland,  to  whom  the 
public  is  also  indebted  for  a  valuable  and  truly  original  "  Essay  on  the  Prin- 
"ciples  of  Translation  ;"  as  well  as  for  an  excellent  critique  on  the  poetical 
works  of  our  Scottish  *'  Theocritus,"  Allan  Ramsay  :  although  to  neither 
of  these  classical  performances  has  his  modesty  suffered  him  to  prefix  his 
name.  He  has  also  published.  "Elements  of  General  History,  Ancient  and 
«*  Modern  ;"  a  performance  of  much  merit,  of  which  he  has  acknowledged 
liimself  to  be  the  author,  as  it  contains  _the  outlines  of  a  course  of  public  lec- 
tures, delivered  by  him  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  in  which  he  was 
Professor  of  universal  history,  before  he  was  raised  to  tlie  Bench.  Lord 
Woodhouseiee  was  also  one  of  the  elegant  writers  to  \^  horn  we  are  indebted 
for  those  two  excellent  periodical  works,  the  "  Mirror"  and  "  Lounger," 
published  at  Edinburgh.* 

Some  account  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Aberdeen,  wilUikewise  be 
found  in  the  Supplement  to  the  "  Encyclopedia  Britannica,"  Vol.  I.  p.  699. 
article,  Life  of  Br  Gerard. 

Note  [F.]  p.  34. 
This  and  the  three  following  notes  were  meant  for  the  preservation  of 
some  pieces  of  Dr  Beattie's  poetry,  published  in  the  two  first  editions  of  his 
poems,  though  omitted  in  his  later  editions  ;  but  Avhich  I  had  thought  it  a 
pity  should  be  lost.  But  on  farther  reflection,  it  has  been  judged  expedient 
to  retain  only  the  '•  Ode  to  Peace,"  of  which  two  stanzas  are  already  in- 
serted in  the  text,  at  p.  50.  and  which  appears  to  be  of  superior  beau- 
ty. The  Epita])h  on  himself  is  also  pvcservod,  for  the  reason  assigned 
in  the  text.  The  reader  will  therefore  be  pleased  to  pardon  the  inaccuracy 
of  the  references  here. 


•  Tliis  Letter  of  reference  is  by  mistake  repeated.  f  See  Note  [DD,;^ 


516  APPENDIX. 

The  concluding-  lines  of  the  •'  Hares"  are  Inserted  hei-e,  as  mentioned  in 
'thetext,  p.  34.  note  [F.]  ;  because  it  is  not  meant  to  print  the  fable  itseU' 
in  the  projected  new  edition  of  his  •'  Works  in  Prose  and  Verse." 

"  Now  from  the  western  mountain's  brow, 

"  Compassed  with  clouds  of  various  glovi', 

"  The  sun  a  broader  orb  displays, 

"  And  shoots  aslope  his  ruddy  rays. 

"  The  lawn  assumes  a  fresher  green, 

"  And  dew-drops  spangle  all  the  scene, 

"  The  balmy  zephyr  breathes  along, 

"  The  shepherd  sings  his  tender  song ; 

"  With  all  their  lays  the  groves  resound 

•*  And  falling  waters  murmur  round. 

*•  Discord  and  Care  were  put  to  flight, 

"  And  all  was  peace  and  calm  delight." 

Note  [G.]  p.  36. 

ODE  TO  PEACE. 

Written  in  the  year  1758. 

I.  1. 

pEACE,  heaven-descended  maid !  whose  powerful  voipp 

From  ancient  darkness  called  the  morn  ; 

And  hushed  of  jarring  elements  the  noise. 

When  Chaos,  from  his  old  dominion  torn. 

With  all  liis  bellowing  throng. 

Far,  far  was  hurled  the  void  abyss  along ; 

And  all  the  bright  angelic  choir, 

Striking,  through  all  their  ranks,  the  eternal  lyre. 

Poured,  in  loud  symphony,  the  impetuous  strain  ; 

And  every  fiery  orb  and  planet  sung. 

And  wide,  through  night's  dark  solitary  reign, 

Rebounding  long  and  deep,  tlie  lays  triumphant  rung  ! 

I.  2. 

Oh,  whither  art  thou  fled,  Saturnian  Age  ! 

Roll  round  again,  majestic  years  ! 

To  break  the  sceptre  of  tyrannic  rage ; 

From  Woe's  wan  cheek  to  wipe  the  bitter  tears  ; 

Ye  years,  again  roll  round  ! 

Hark  !  from  afar  what  desolating  sound. 

While  echoes  load  the  sighing  gales. 

With  dire  presage  the  throbbing  heart  assails  ! 

Murder,  deep-roused,  with  all  the  whirlwind's  haste. 

And  roar  of  tempest,  from  her  cavern  spf  ings, 


APPENDIX.  51? 

Her  tangled  serpents  girds  around  her  waist, 

Smiles  ghastly  fierce,  and  shakes  her  gore-distilling  wingg, 

I.  3. 

The  shouts,  redoubling,  rise 

In  thunder  to  the  skies  ; 

The  nymphs,  disordered,  dart  along. 

Sweet  powers  of  solitude  and  song. 

Stunned  with  the  horrors  of  discordant  sound  j 

And  all  is  listening,  trembling  round. 

Torrents,  far  heard  amid  the  waste  of  night. 

That  oft  have  led  the  wanderer  right. 

Are  silent  at  the  noise. 

The  mighty  Ocean's  more  majestic  voice, 

Drowned  in  superior  din,  is  heard  no  more  ; 

The  surge  in  silence  seems  to  sweep  th.e  foamy  shore. 

II.  1. 

The  bloody  banner,  streaming  in  the  air. 
Seen  on  yon  sky-mixt  mountain's  brow, 
The  mingling  multitudes,  the  maddning  car, 
Driven  in  confusion  to  the  plain  below. 
War's  dreadful  lord  proclaim. 
Bursts  out,  by  frequent  fits,  the  expansive  flame  ; 
Snatched  in  tempestuous  eddies,  flies 
The  surging  smoke  o'er^iU  the  darkened  skies  ; 
The  cheerful  face  of  heaven  no  more  is  seen ; 
The  bloom  of  morning  fades  to  deadly  pale  : 
The  bat  flies  transient  o'er  the  dusky  green. 
And  night's  foul  birds  along  the  sullen  twihght  sail. 

II.  2. 

Involved  in  fire-streaked  gloom,  the  car  comes  on. 

The  rushing  steeds  grim  Terror  guides. 

His  forehead  writhed  to  a  relentless  frown, 

Aloft  the  angry  power  of  battle  rides. 

Grasped  in  his  mighty  hand 

A  mace  tremendous  desolates  the  land ; 

The  tower  rolls  headlong  down  the  steep. 

The  mountain  shrinks  before  its  wasteful  sweep. 

Chill  horror  the  dissolving  limbs  invades. 

Smithy  the  blasting  hghtning  of  his  eyes  ; 

A  deeper  gloom  invests  the  howling  shades  ; 

Stripped  is  the  shattered  grove,  and  every  verdure  dies. 


518  APPENDIX 

II.  3. 
How  stai'tled  Phrensy  stares, 
Bristling  her  ragged  liairs  ! 
Revenge  tlie  gory  fragment  gnaws  ; 
See,  with  her  griping  vulture-claws 
Imprinted  deep,  she  rends  the  mangled  wound  r 
Hate  whirls  her  torch  sulphureous  round. 
The  shrieks  (.f  agony,  and  clang  of  arms. 
Re-echo  to  the  hoarse  alarms, 
Her  trump  terrific  blows. 
Disparting  from  behind,  the  clouds  disclose, 
Of  kingly  gesture,  a  gigantic  form. 
That  with  his  scourge  sublime  rules  the  careering  storm. 

III.  1. 

Ambition,  outside  fair  I  within  as  foul 

As  fiends  of  fiercest  heart  below. 

Who  ride  the  hurricanes  of  fire,  that  roll 

Their  thundering  vortex  o'er  the  realms  of  woe, 

Yon  naked  waste  survey  ; 

Where  late  was  heard  the  flute's  mellifluous  lay  ; 

Where  late  the  rosy-bosomed  hours, 

In  loose  array,  danced  lightly  o'er  the  flowers  ; 

Where  late  the  shepherd  told  his  tender  tale  ; 

And,  wakened  by  the  murmuring  breeze  of  morn. 

The  voice  of  cheerful  labour  filled  the  dale  ; 

And  dove-eyed  Plenty  smiled,  and  waved  her  liberal  horn. 

III.  2. 

Yon  ruins,  sable  fi*om  the  wasting  flame, 

But  mark  the  once  resplendent  dome  ; 

The  frequent  corse  obstructs  the  sullen  stream, 

And  ghosts  glare  horrid  from  the  sylvan  gloom. 

How  sadly  silent  all ! 

Save  where  outstretched  beneath  yon  hanging  wall, 

Pale  Famine  moans  with  feeble  breath, 

And  Anguish  yells,  and  grinds  his  bloody  teetli. 

Tliough  vain  the  muse,  and  every  melting  lay. 

To  touch  thy  heart,  unconscious  of  remorse  ! 

Know,  monster,  know,  thy  hour  is  on  the  way  ; 

I  see,  I  see  the  years  begin  their  mighty  coui'se. 

III.  3. 
What  scenes  of  glory  rise 
Before  my  dazzled  eyes  ! 
Young  zephyrs  wave  tlieir  wanton  wings. 
And  melody  celestial  rings. 


APPENDIX.  519 

All  blooming  on  the  lawn  the  nymphs  advance. 

And  touch  the  lute,  and  range  the  dance  : 

And  the  blithe  shepherds,  on  the  mountain's  side. 

Arrayed  in  all  their  rural  pride, 

Exalt  the  festive  note,  t 

Inviting  Echo  from  her  inmost  grot 

But  ah  !  the  landscape  glows  with  fainter  light ; 
It  darkens,  swims,  and  flies  for  ever  from  my  sight, 

IV.  1. 

Illusions  vain  !    Can  sacred  Peace  reside 

Whei-e  stH'did  gold  the  breast  alarms. 

Where  cruelty  inflames  the  eye  of  pride. 

And  grandeur  wantons  in  soft  pleasures  arms  ■ 

Ambition,  these  are  thine  ! 

These  from  the  soul  erase  the  form  divine  ; 

Arid  quench  the  animating  fire. 

That  warms  the  bosom  with  sublime  desire. 

Thence  the  relentless  heart  forgets  to  feel. 

And  hatred  triumphs  on  the  o'erwhelming  brow. 

And  midnight  Rancour  grasps  the  cruel  steel. 

Blaze  the  blue  flames  of  death,  aad  sound  the  shrieks  of  woe. 

IV.  2. 
From  Albion  fled,  thy  once  beloved  retreat, 
What  regions  brighten  in  thy  smile. 
Creative  Peace  !  and  underneath  thy  feet 
See  sudden  flowers  adorn  the  rugged  soil  ? 
In  bleak  Siberia  blows, 

Waked  by  thy  genial  breath,  the  balmy  rose  ? 
Waved  over  by  thy  magic  wand, 
Does  life  inform  fell  Lybia's  burning  sand  ? 
Or  does  some  isle  thy  parting  flight  detain. 
Where  roves  the  India^i  tiirougli  primeval  sliades  i 
Haunts  the  pure  pleasures  ofthe  sylvan  reign. 
And,  led  by  Reason's  light,  the  path  of  nature  treads  ? 

IV.  3. 
On  Cuba's  utmost  steep,* 
Far  leaning  o'er  the  deep, 
The  Goddess'  pensive  form  was  seen. 
Her  robe,  of  Nature's  varied  green. 
Waved  on  tiie  gale  ;  grief  dimmed  her  radiant  eyes, 

•  This  alluded  to  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Spaniards  wider  Columbus.  Those  ra- 
vagers  are  said  to  have  made  their  first  descent  on  the  islands  in  the  Gulf  of  Florida,  of  which 
Cuba  is  one 


520  APPENDIX. 

Her  bosom  heaved  with  boding  sighs . 

She  eyed  the  main  ;  where,  gaining  on  the  view, 

Emerging  from  the  ethereal  blue. 

Midst  the  dread  pomp  of  war. 

Blazed  the  Iberian  streamer  from  afar. 

She  saw  ;  and,  on  refulgent  pinions  borne, 

Slow  winged  her  way  sublime,  and  mingled  with  the  morn. 

From  p.  36.* 
EPITAPH  ON  ***•  •♦***** 

ESCAPED  the  gloom  of  mortal  life,  a  soul 
Here  leaves  its  mouldering  tenement  of  clay, 

Safe,  where  no  cares  their  whelming  billows  i-oll, 
No  doubts  bewilder,  and  no  hopes  betray. 

Like  thee,  I  once  have  stemmed  the  sea  of  life  ; 

Like  thee,  have  languished  after  empty  joys  ; 
Like  thee,  have  laboured  in  the  stormy  strife  ; 

Been  grieved  for  trifles,  and  amused  with  toys. 

Yet  for  a  while  'gainst  Passion's  threatful  blast 

Let  steady  Reason  urge  the  struggling  oar  ; 

Shot  through  the  dreary  gloom,  the  morn  at  last 

Gives  to  thy  longing  eye  the  blissful  shore. 

Forget  my  frailties,  thou  art  also  frail ; 

Forgive  my  lapses,  for  thyself  may'st  fall ; 
Nor  read,  unmoved,  my  artless  tender  tale, — 

I  was  a  friend,  O  man,  to  thee,  to  all. 

In  perusing  this  beautiful  Epitaph,  the  reader  will  be  in  some  places  re- 
minded of  Gray's  "  Elegy  in  a  Country  Church-yard."  Whether  Beattie 
had  that  poem  in  his  eye  while  he  was  writing,  cannot  with  any  certainty  be 
discovered.  Gray's  "  Elegy  in  a  Country  Church-yard,"  was  first  publish- 
ed, in  a  quarto  sixpenny  pamphlet,  by  Dodsley,  in  1750 ;  it  was  afterwards 
published,  along  with  some  other  of  Mr  Gray's  poems,  in  1753  ;  whereas  this 
Elegy  of  Dr  Beattie's  was  first  printed  in  the  "  Scots  Magazine"  only  in 
1757.  It  is,  therefore,  possible,  that  Dr  Beattie  may  have  seen  the  Elegy 
of  Gray  before  he  wrote  his  own.  But  when  his  obscurity  at  that  time  is 
considered,  and  the  little  access  he  had  to  books,  it  is,  I  think,  much  more 
probable,  that  it  had  never  come  within  his  view.  It  is,  however,  of  no  con- 
sequence ;  for  any  coincidence  of  thought  between  the  two,  is  merely  a  proof, 
Jiow  much  one  man  of  genius  may  imitate  another,  without  servilely  copying 
him. 

i  K.  B,  The  letter  of  reference  accidentally  omitted. 


APPENDIX.  521 

Note  [K.]  p.  37. 
1  am  indebted  to  my  friend,  Lord  Woodhouselee,  whose  classical  taste 
in  every  branch  of  polite  literature,  especially  on  the  subject  of  '*  Transla- 
"  tion,"  is  justly  entitled  to  high  commendation,  for  an  excellent  paper  of 
critical  observations  on  the  translations  of  the  "  Bucolics  of  Virg'il,"  by  Dry- 
den,  Wai'ton,  and  Beattie  ;  and  I  confess  I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find 
the  result  so  favourable  to  Beattie,  who,  soon  after  his  translations  were  pub- 
lished, declared,  that  he  was  ashamed  of  them,  and  wished  them  to  be  for 
ever  consigned  to  oblivion.  We  do  not  hear  that  either  Dryden  or  Warton 
thought  so  meanly  of  their  translations,  though  the  former  was  one  of  the 
best  of  the  English  poets,  and  the  latter  possessed  of  poetical  genius  and  a 
refined  critical  taste. 

LORD    W00DH0USELE£    TO  SIR  WILLIAM  FORBES. 

Edmburgh,  10th  January,  1804. 
**  AS  you  expressed  a  wish  to  have  my  opinion  of  the  comparative 
merits  of  the  three  translations  of  the  "Eclogues  of  Virgil,"  by  Dryden, 
Warton,  and  Beattie,  it  has  been  .i  very  pleasing  amusement  to  me  in  a  few 
leisure  holiday-hours,  to  make  this  comparison;  and  I  now  sit  down  to  com- 
ply with  your  request.  In  matters  of  this  sort,  general  approbation  or  cen- 
sure is  of  little  value.  On  the  other  hand,  we  risk  being  tedious,  if  we  go  too 
much  into  particulars.     I  shall  endeavoui",  if  I  can,  to  avoid  both  extremes. 

"Of  the  three  rival  translations,  I  think  Dr  Warton's  the  most  faithful 
to  the  sense  of  the  original,  the  least  faulty,  and  in  general,  though  not 
always,  the  most  poetical. 

"  Dryden,  in  the  usual  licentiousness  of  his  translations,  while  he  fre- 
quently loads  his  original  with  his  own  supposed  embellishments,  more  fre- 
quently impairs  the  sense  by  the  omission  of  material  ideas.  Thus  in  Ec- 
logue first,  the  beautiful  apostrophe, 

'•  Fortunate  senex,  hic,  inter fiuinina  nota, 
"  Mtfontes  sacros,frtgus  captabis  opacuin," 
js  left  out  altogether.     Warton  gives  it  faithfully, 

"  Happy  old  man  !  here,  midst  the  customed  streams, 
*'  And  sacred  springs,  you'll  shun  the  scorclung  beams." 
Beattie,  with  more  beauty  of  poetry,  but  less  fidelity,  as  he  omits  the  expres- 
sive repetition  oi' fortunate  senex , 

••  You,  by  known  streams  and  sacred  fountains  laid, 
•'  Shall  taste  the  coolness  of  the  sacred  shade." 
■"  In  the  finest  passage  of  the  same  Eclogue,  Dryden  is  extremely  poor : 
'•  En  unquam  patrios  longo  post  tempore  fines, 
"  Pauperis  et  tuguri  congestum  cespite  ctilmen, 
"  Post  aliquot,  mea  regno  videns,  niirabor  aristas  ! 
"  Impius  hjec  tain  culta  novatia  miies  habebit  ? 
"  Barbarus  has  segetes  ?  En  quo  discordiu  cives 
"  Perduxit  miseros'  En  quels  conscvimus  agros  .'" 
3   u 


522  APPENDIX. 

"  O  must  the  wretched  exiles  ever  mourn, 

"  Nor  after  length  of  rolling  years  return  ! 

"  Are  we  condemned  by  Fate's  unjust  decree 

"  No  more  our  houses  and  our  homes  to  see  ! 

"  Or  shall  we  mount  again  the  rural  throne, 

*'  And  rule  the  country  kingdoms  all  our  own  I 

"  Did  we  for  these  barbarians  plant  and  sow  ? 

"  On  these,  on  these  our  happy  fields  bestow  ? 

"  Good  heaven  !  what  dire  effects  from  civil  discord  flow  !" 

Dryden. 
Nor  dofes  Seattle's  version  of  this  passage  deserve  much  praise  : 

"  When  long,  long  years  have  tedious  rolled  away, 

"  Ah  !  shall  I  yet  at  last,  at  last  survey 

"  My  dear  paternal  lands,  and  dear  abode, 

"  Where  once  I  reigned  in  walls  of  humble  sod  ! 

"  These  lands,  these  harvests  must  the  soldier  share  ; 

"  For  rude  barbarians  lavish  we  our  care  ! 

"  How  are  our  fields  become  the  spoil  of  wars  ! 

"  How  are  we  ruined  by  intestine  jars  !" 
It  is  much  better  rendered  by  Warton  ;  though  still  with  inferior  beauty  to 
the  original : 

"  Ah  !  shall  I  never  once  again  behold, 

"  When  many  a  year  in  tedious  round  has  rolled, 

"  My  native  seats  ?  Ah,  ne'er  with  ravished  thought 

'*  Gaze  on  my  little  realm,  and  turf-built  cot  ? 

"  What !  must  these  i-ising  crops  barbarians  share  ? 

"  These  well-tilled  fields  become  the  spoils  of  war  ? 

"  See,  to  what  misei-y  Discord  drives  the  swain  ! 

"  See  for  what  lords  we  spread  the  teeming  grain  !" 
Ibid. 

"  Nic  ilium  vidi  juvenem,  iJfc. 

"  Pascite  ut  ante  doves,  pueri"  iSfc. 

"  There  first  the  youth  of  heavenly  birth  I  viewed, 

"  For  whom  our  monthly  victims  are  renewed ; 

*'  He  heard  my  vows,  and  graciously  decreed 

"  My  grounds  to  be  restored,  my  former  flocks  to  feed." 

Dryden. 
It  is  evident  that  a  beauty  is  here  lost,  by  the  omission  of  the  apostrophe  ii^ 
the  close. 

"  'Twas  there  these  eyes  the  heaven-born  30uth  beheld, 

♦«  For  whom  our  altars  monthly  incense  yield  : 
"  My  suit  he  even  prevented,  vvliile  he  spoke, — 

*•  Manure  your  ancient  farm,  and  feed  your  former  flock  !" 

BEATTIE; 


APPENDIX.  523 

This  were  well,  but  for  the  omission  of  the  courtebus  appellative  j6um,  which 
is  a  characteristic  stroke.      "  My  suit  he  even  prevented,"  is  a  vei-y  happy 
turn.     Dr  Warton  is  more  correct,  but  with  less  beauty  of  poetry  : 
"  There  I  that  youth  beheld,  for  whom  shall  rise 
"  Each  year  my  votive  incense  to  the  skies  ; 
"  'Twas  there  this  gracious  answer  blessed  mine  ear,— 
"  Swains,  feed  again  your  flocks,  and  yoke  your  steers  !" 

Warton. 
"  In  the  second  Eclogue, 

"  At  mecuin  raucie,  tua  dum  vestigia  lustro, 
"  Sole  sub  ardcnti  resonant  arbusta  cicadis." 
Dryden  debases  this  passage  of  simple  description  by  a  ludicrous  conceit  : 
"  While,  in  the  scorching  sun,  I  trace  in  vain 
"Thy  flying  footsteps  o'er  the  burning  plain, 
•'  The  creaking  locusts  with  my  voice  conspire  ; 
"  They  fried  with  heat,  and  I  with  fierce  desire." 

Dryden. 
Warton  injures  it,  by  an  absurd  attempt  to  give  it  dignity : 
"  Thee,  while  I  follow  o'er  the  burning  plains, 
"  And  join  the  shrill  Cicada's  plaintive  strains." 

Warton. 
Beattie  has  succeeded  without  any  effort,  by  the  justness  of  his  taste  ; 
"  And  all  is  still ;  save  where  the  buzzing  sound 
*'  Of  chirping  grashoppers  is  heard  around  .- 
"  While  I,  exposed  to  all  the  rage  of  heat, 
"  Wander  the  wilds  in  search  of  thy  retreat." 

Beattie, 
"  It  required  much  judgment  to  avoid  indelicacy  of  expression,  andatthje 
same  time  to  convey  the  full  sense,  in  some  passages  of  tjie  thb-d  Eclogue  :  as, 
"  Parcius  itta  viris 
"  Ncoimus  et  qui  te"  iS^c. 
Here  Dryden  is  most  offensive  and  disgusting:  Beattie  is  too  plain  :    War- 
ton  is  more  delicate,  and  not  less  faithful  to  the  original. 
Ibid. 

"  De  grege  non  ausini  quicquam  deponere  tecum  : 
"  Est  tnihi  namque  doini  pater,  est  injusta  noverca."" 
Warton  and  Beattie  saw  nothing  scurrilous  in  this  passage  ;  but  Drvden  de- 
Ijghted  to  make  it  so  : 

"  You  know  too  well  I  feed  my  father's  flock  ; 
*'  What  can  I  wager  from  the  common  stock  ? 
"  A  step-dame  too  I  have,  a  cursed  she, 
"  Who  rules  my  hen-pecked  sire,  and  orders  me." 
Ibid. 

" Cotton,  et  quisjuit  alter,"  ifc. 

Warton  has  missed  this  fine  stroke  of  rustic  simplicity;  Dryden  and  Beattie 
have  botli  done  it  justice. 


524  APPENDIX. 

"  The  fourth  Eclogue,  PolUo,  of  a  different  strain  from  all  the  rest,  is,  in 
my  opinion,  belter  translated  by  Beattie  than  by  either  of  his  rival  poets. 
Dryden,  whose  genius  could  have  done  the  most  ample  justice  to  the  sub- 
ject, has  failed,  in  some  instances,  from  a  bad  taste,  but  in  more  from  care- 
lessness. He  had  a  strange  fancy  for  giving  variety  to  the  heroic  measure 
by  a  sort  of  double  Alexandrine  : 

"  — Majestic  months  set  out  with  him  to  their  appointed  race — 
" — Another  Argos  land  the  chiefs  upon  the  Iberian  shore — 
<«  — And  joyful' ages  from  behind  in  crowding  ranks  appear" — 
This  measure  is  extremely  harsh  and  unmusical,  and  gives  a  burlesque  air, 
instead  of  dignity. 

"  The  beautiful  passage  in  the  close  of  this  Eclogue, 
''  Incifie,  parve  puer,  risu  cognoscere  tnatrevi  ; 
"  Matri  longa  decetn  tuleruntfastidia  menses.-" 
is  thus  debased  : 

"  Begin,  nuspicious,  boy,  to  cast  about 
"  'I'hy  infant  eyes,  and  with  a  smile  thy  mother  single  out : 
"  Thy  mother  well  deserves  that  short  delight, 
"  The  nauseous  qualms  often  long  months,  and  travel  to  requite." 
The  critics,  on  this  passage  of  the  original,  are  divided  in  opinion,  whether 
the  risus,  or  smile,  is  meant  of  the  mother  or  of  the  child.     Warton  applies 
it  to  the  former  ;  Dryden  and  Beattie  to  the  latter  :  and  as  the  expression  in 
the  original  is  ambiguous,  the  preference  is  merely  a  matter  of  taste  :  I  think, 
for  my  own  pai-t,  the  latter  sense  gives  a  greater  beauty  to  the  picture,  as 
well  as  more  propriety  to  the  associated  sentiments. 

"  In  the  sixth  Eclogue,  the  description  of  sleeping  Silenus  is  better  in 
Beattie's  translation  than  in  either  of  the  others  ;  though  not  excellent  in  any 
of  them.     None  of  the  three  translators  liave  given  the  full  sense  of 

"  Inflatum  hesterno  venas,  ut  semper  laccho.'"' 
Dryden's 

•'  Doz'd  with  his  fumes,  and  heavy  with  his  load," 
conveys  but  a  small  part  of  the  meaning:  The  significant  parenthesis,  *'ut 
"  semper,"  is  missed  by  them  all. 

"  In  Eclogue  seventh,  tlie  pleasing  apostrophe, 

"  Muscosifoates,  et  somno  inoUior  herba"  ISfc. 
is  translated  by  Beattie  with  more  beauty  of  poetry  than  by  either  of  his 
rivals  : 

"  Ye  mossy  fountains,  warbling  as  ye  flow, 
"  And  softer  than  the  slumbers  ye  bestow  ; 
"  Ye  grassy  banks,  ye  trees  with  verdui'e  crowned, 
*'  Whose  leaves  a  glimmering  shade  diffuse  around  ; 
"  Grant  to  my  weary  flocks  a  cool  retreat, 
"  And  screen  them  from  the  summer's  raging  heat ! 
"  For  now  the  year  in  brightest  glory  shines  ; 
"  Now  reddening  clusters  deck  the  bending  vines." 

Beattie. 


APPENDIX.  525 

It  is  pity  that  this  fine  passage  should  lose  any  thing  of  its  merit  from  the 
mistaken  sense  in  the  last  line.  Gemmx  are  the  buds  of  the  vine,  and  not  the 
reddening  clusters.  "  yam  venit  xstas  torrida"  does  not  imply  that  it  is  now 
the  season  of  summer,  (which  would  indeed  demand  dusters  and  not  buds) 
but  that  the  summer  is  approaching.  If  it  be  objected,  that  the  mention  of 
the  solstice  in  the  preceding  line  proves  the  season  to  be  midsummer,  the 
answer  is,  that  the  poet  has  here  confounded  all  the  seasons  :  for  in  the  next 

response  of  Thyrsis,  the  time  of  winter  is  plainly  marked, 

"  Hic  focus  et  tcedx  pingues,  hie  plurimus  ignis. 

" Hic  tantum  Borex  curmnus  frigora  .•" 

then  in  a  moment  we  return  to  spring, 
"  Omnia  nunc  rident,"  iSfc. 
The  characters  of  the  season  cannot  therefore  justify  the  substitution  of 
clusters  for  buds. 

"  In  the  eighth  Eclogue, 

"  Sepibus  in  nostris,  parvam  te  roscida  mala, 
"  f  Dux  ego  vester  eramj  vidi  cum  matre  legentein  : 
"  Alter  ab  undecimo  turn  me  jain  cceperat  annus  ; 
"  yatnfragiles  poteram  a  terra  contingere  ramos  : 
"  Ut  vidi,  lit  perii,  ut  me  mains  abstulit  error  .'" 
It  was  most  difficult  to  rival  in  any  translation  the  singular  beauty  of  this  ori- 
ginal, and  certainly  impossible  to  exceed  it.     Beattie  and  Dryden  are  here 
much  on  a  par  ;  neither  of  tliem  approaching  to  excellence,  nor  yet  remark- 
ably deficient :  Warton  is  somewhat  better : 

* '  Once  with  your  mother  to  our  fields  jou came 
"  For  dewy  apples — thence  I  date  my  flame. 
"  The  choicest  fruit  I  pointed  to  your  view, 
"  Though  young,  my  raptured  soul  was  fixed  on  you  ! 
"  The  bouglis  I  scarce  could  reach  with  little  arms, 
"  But  then,  even  then,  could  feel  thy  powerful  charms  : 
•'  Oh,  how  I  gazed  in  pleasing  transport  tost! 
"  How  glowed  my  heart  in  sweet  delusion  lost !" 
A  corpesponding  passage  in  the  Aminta  shews  that  Tasso,  had  he  translated 
from  virgil,  could  have  equalled  his  original : 

"  Essendo  io  fanciulletto,  si  che  a  pena 
"  Giuiigcr  potea  con  la  man  pargolletta 
"  A  corre  ifiutti  dai  piegati  rami 
"  Dagli  arboscelli,  intrinseco  divenni 
"  Be  la  put  vnga  e  car  a  verginella 
"  Che  niai  spiegasse  al  vento  chioma  d'oro,"  iS'c. 
In  pastoral  poetry  it  is  often  difficult  to  attain  simplicity,  without  deviating, 
on  the  one  hand,  into    coarseness  and  vulgarity,  or,  on  the  other,  into  flat- 
ness and  insipidity.     The  delicacy  of  Beattie's  taste  secured  him  against  the 
former  of  these  errors  ;  but  it  has  not  preserved  him  from  falling  at  times 
into  the  feeble  and  prosaic. 


526  APPENDIX. 

*■'  Eclogue  luiitli  : 

"  The  unexpected  day  at  last  is  come, 
*'  When  a  rude  alien  drives  us  from  our  home  : 
"  Hence,  hence,  ye  clowns,  the  usurper  thus  commands^ 
"  To  me  you  must  resign  your  ancient  lands. 
"  Thus,  helpless  and  forlorn,  we  yield  to  fate  ; 
•*  And  our  rapacious  lord  to  mitigate, 
"  This  brace  of  kids  a  present  I  design  ; 
"  Which  load  with  curses,  O  ye  Powers  divine !" 

Beattie. 
But  yet  this  is  better  than  the  vulgar  ribaldry  of  Dryden  : 
"  The  time  is  come  I  never  tliought  to  see, 
"  (Strange  revolution  for  my  farm  and  me  !) 
"  When  the  grim  captain,  in  a  surly  tone, 
"  Cries  out.  Pack  up,  ye  rascals,  and  begone  ! 
"  Kicked  out,  we  set  the  best  face  on't  we  could, 
"  And  these  two  kids,  to  appease  his  angry  mood, 
'*  I  bear,  of  which  the  Furies  give  him  good." 

♦'  It  were  easy,  dear  Sir,  to  carry  this  parallel  to  a  much  greater  length  : 
but  enough  has  been  said  to  answer  the  end  you  wished.  My  opinion  you 
may  infer  to  be  this  :  That  of  tlie  three  translations  m  question,  Warton's  is, 
on  the  whole,  the  most  perfect ;  though  he  has  occasionally  been  excelled  in 
pai'ticular  passages  by  both  the  others  :  that  Beattie's  translation,  though 
not  equally  correct,  being  in  many  instances  flat  and  prosaic,  has,  in  the  more 
remarkable  and  splendid  passages,  done  most  justice  to  the  original :  and 
that  Dryden,  with  superior  native  genius  to  either  of  his  rivals,  has,  from 
carelessness  and  a  defect  of  taste,  in  a  work  which  chiefly  depended  on  taste, 
fallen  below  them  both.  There  is  certainly  room  for  a  better  translation  of 
llie  "  Pastorals  of  Virgil,"  than  any  we  have  yet  seen.  But,  when  we  con- 
sider the  early  age  at  whicli  Beattie's  version  must  have  been  composed,  and 
the  great  improvement  of  his  poetic  powers,  evinced  in  his  latter  composi- 
tions, I  think  it  is  fair  to  conclude,  that  had  he  given  to  this  translation  such 
amendment  as  he  was  capable  of  bestowing,  it  would  have  been  hazardous  in 
any  poet  of  the  present  day  to  have  trodden  the  same  ground." 

Note  [L.]  p.  46. 
I  have  said  in  t'le  text,  at  the  pl.ace  referred  to,  tliat  the  "  Judgment  of 
"  Paris"  never  was  a  popular  poem,  probably  owing  to  its  being  of  too  me- 
taphysical a  nature,  and  that  it  has  therefore  sunk  into  oblivion;  so  that  I 
scarcely  think  it  necessary  to  revive  the  memory  of  it,  by  the  insertion  here 
of  the  two  letters  alluded  to,  and  the  introductory  stanzas,  nothvvithstanding 
their  beauty  of  description  ;  as  I  find,  in  order  to  iiave  done  this  with  proper 
effect,  and  in  the  manner  I  first  intended,  I  must  have  inserted  no  fewer  than 
nine-and-twenty  stanzas  of  the  poem ;  a  greater  proportion  of  it  than  the 
purpose  seems  to  warrant. 


APPENDIX.  527 

Note  [M.]  p.  49. 
I  once  thoug'ht  of  giving  some  farther  account  of  Churchill,  and  of  in- 
serting the  lines  here,  with  the  omission  only  of  the  last  couplet.  But  as 
Churchill  is  a  name  so  well  known  to  every  reader  of  poetry  in  Britain,  I 
now  think  it  unnecessary  to  swell  this  Appendix  with  any  thing  farther  than 
what  is  already  said  of  him  ;  and  as  the  lines  relate  to  political  circumstan- 
ces, long  since  out  of  date,  they  may  also  be  dispensed  with. 

Note  [N.]  p.  53. 
As  an  elegant  biographical  sketch  of  the  life  and  writings  of  Dr  Black- 
lock,  written  by  my  friend  Mr  Henry  Mackenzie,  and  prefixed  to  a  posthu- 
mous publication  of  the  Doctor's  poems,  is  already  in  print,  it  may  seem 
unnecessary,  as  well  as  a  piece  of  great  presumption  in  me,  to  say  any  thing 
here  on  the  subject.  But  as  so  strong  a  friendship  subsisted  betv/een  Dr 
Beattie  and  Dr  Blacklock,  who  were  in  truth  congenial  spirits,  I  feci  a  de- 
sire to  make  this  amiable  and  worthy  man  better  known  to  such  of  my  read- 
ers as  may  not  have  met  with  the  posthumous  publication  of  his  poems,  and 
Mr  Mackenzie's  biographical  sketch. 


The  Reverend  Dr  Thomas  Blacklock, — a  man  very  extraordinary  at  once 
for  his  talents  as  a  poet  and  philosopher,  for  his  acquired  knowledge  as  a 
scholar,  and  his  virtues  as  a  man  and  a  Christian, — had  the  misfortune  to 
lose  his  sight  by  the  small-pox  before  he  was  six  montlis  old ;  an  age  so 
early,  as  not  to  leave  with  him  the  .slightest  remembrance  of  his  having  ever 
possessed  that  blessing.  Tiiough  his  father  was  in  no  higher  station  than  a 
bricklayer,  he  gave  his  son  such  acquaintance  with  books  as  he  could,  by 
reading,  to  amuse  him  ;  and  his  companions  assisted  in  the  task,  by  whose 
means  he  acquired  some  knowledge  of  Latin.  At  nineteen  he  lost  his 
father ;  yet  he  was  not  left  destitute  of  friends,  whom  Providence  brought 
to  his  aid.  Among  others,  Dr  Stevenson,  physician  in  Edinburgh,  having 
accidentally  learned  his  history,  gave  to  his  natural  endowments  the  assist- 
ance of  a  classical  education  in  that  university.  His  acquired  knowledge  of 
ancient  and  modern  languages,  and  of  various  branches  of  science,  was  tru- 
ly astonishing,  not  only  as  an  instance  of  the  strongest  and  most  retentive 
memory,  but  of  the  native  pov/ers  of  mind,  applied  to  the  most  abstruse  sub- 
jects, under  circumstances  the  most  unpropitious. 

While  at  Edinburgli,  he  publislicd  a  volume  of  poems,  which  attracted 
the  notice  of  Mr  Spence,  prebendary  of  Durliam,  who  wrote  an  account  of 
his  life  and  character,  prefixed  to  an  edition  published  afterwards  in  London 
by  subscription.  If  the  descriptions  and  imagery,  which  his  poetry  exhibits, 
be  deemed  the  result  of  memory  merely,  of  things  of  which  he  never  could 
have  had  any  knowledge,  the  reader  will  at  the  same  time  find  in  them  the 
qualities  of  fancy,  tenderness,  and  sublimity,  the  thoughts,  as  well  as  the 
elegance  and  vigour  of  esprcssicu,  wliich  characterise  the  genuine  produr 


528  APPENDIX. 

tions  of  the  poetical  talent.  One  other  praise,  says  his  biogra'pher,  whicfj 
the  good  will  value,  belongs  to  them  in  a  liigh  degree  ;  they  breathe  the 
purest  spirit  of  piety,  virtue  and  benevolence.* 

After  applying  some  time  to  the  study  of  theology,  he  became  a  minis- 
ter of  the  church  of  Scotland,  and  is  said  to  have  excelled  as  a  preacher. 
But  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish  in  which  he  had  been  placed,  having, 
through  prejudice  formed  against  him  from  his  want  of  sight,  made  strong 
opposition  to  his  settlement,  he  resigned  the  living,  on  receiving  a  small  an- 
nuity, and  returned  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  ever  after  resided. 

Beside  his  poetical  compositions,  he  published  several  works  in  prose,  of 
a  moral  and  religious  tendency,  which  do  him  honour  as  a  pliilosopher  and 
a  Christian,  particulai-ly,  "  Paraclesis,  or,  Consolations  deduced  from  Na- 
"  tural  and  Revealed  Religion,"  in  two  Dissertations  :  the  first,  supposed  to 
be  written  by  Cicero,  and  translated  by  Dr  Blacklock  ;  the  other,  original, 
by  himself.  In  the  "  Encylopsdia  Britannica,"  the  article  on  tiie  Blind, 
written  by  him,  is  both  curious  and  instructive. 

To  those  qualities  of  mind,  whether  native  or  acquired,  for  wliich  he  was 
S.0  remarkable,  Dr  Blacklock  added  the  utmost  goodness  of  heart,  as  well 
as  gentleness  of  manner,  but  accompanied  with  the  keenest  sensibility.  In 
his  friendsliip  he  was  warm  to  enthusiasm.  Of  this  liis  correspondence  with 
Dr  Beattie  affords  a  striking  proof.  Tiieir  spirits  were  congenial,  and  they 
loved  each  other  with  great  affection. 

Dr  Beattie's  and  Dr  Blacklock's  first  intercourse  seems  to  have  arisen 
from  a  present,  which  Dr  Blacklock  had  sent  him  of  his  works,  accompanied 
by  a  copy  of  verses  ;  to  wliich  Dr  Beattie  replied  in  a  similar  manner.  It 
is  an  ethic  epistle,  and,  in  my  opinion,  of  so  much  merit,  that  I  am  sorry 
Dr  Beattie  has  left  it  out  of  the  later  editions  of  his  poetical  works. 

His  peculiar  misfortune  gave  him  a  high  relish  for  the  pleasures  of  con- 
versation. In  the  circle  of  his  friends  he  seemed  to  forget  the  privation  of 
sight,  and  the  melancholy  which  at  other  times  it  produced ;  and  he  entered, 
with  the  cheerful  playfulness  of  a  young-  man,  into  all  the  sprightly  narrative, 
the  sportful  fancy,  and  the  liumorous  jest,  that  rose  around  him. 

Of  music  he  was  uncommonly  fond ;  as  was  extremely  natural  for  one 
who  was  blessed  with  a  musical  eai",  and  who  found  in  it  a  greater  source  of 
delight,  from  the  want  of  other  pleasures  from  which  he  was  shiit  out  bj- 
his  blindness.  He  sung  with  taste;  and  always  carried  in  his  pocket  a  small 
flageolet,  on  which  he  was  by  no  means  averse  from  being  asked  to  per- 
form, for  the  amusement  of  those  with  whom  he  liappened  to  be  in  com- 
pany. 

With  Dr  Blacklock  I  had  tlie  happiness  of  being  well  acquainted  ;  and  I 
look  back  with  gi-atitude  to  his  memory,  for  the  many  instructive  hours 
which  I  have  enjoyed  in  his  company. 

Tlie  last  act  of  Dr  Beattie's  friendship  for  Dr  Blacklock,  was  the  com- 
position of  the  following  elegant  asid  classical  inscription,  wliich  is  engraved 

•  Mr  Mackenzie's  "'Life  of  Dr  Pl.icklock,"  prefixed  to  the  posthumous  publlcilronof  his 
w(Jrks. 


APPENDIX.  520 

on  his  monument  at  Edinburgh,  where  he  died  the  7th  July,  1791,  in  the 
seventieth  year  of  his  age. 

Viro  reverendo 
THOM^  BLACKLOCK,  D.  D. 

Probo,  Pio,  Benevolo, 

Omnigend  Doctrind  ernditOj 

Poette  sublitni  ; 

Ab  iiicunabulis  usque 

Oculis  capto, 

At  hilari,  faceto, 

Amicisque  seinper  carissimo  ; 

^ui  Natus  xxi.  Novemb.  MDCCXXI. 

Obiit  vii.  yulii  MDCCXCI: 

Hoc  Monunientuni 

Vidua  ejus  Sarah  Johnston 

JUberens  P. 

Note  [O.]  p.  80. 

William  Tytler,  Esq.  of  Woodhouselee,f  the  esteemed  friend  of  Dr  Beat- 
tie  ;  who,  with  the  active  duties  of  a  laborious  profession,  in  which  by  his 
skill  and  integrity  he  rose  to  eminence,  combined  a  more  than  common  store 
of  classical  learning,  historical  knowledge,  and  a  singularly  correct  taste  in 
the  sister  arts  of  poetry,  painting,  and  music  ;  all  of  which  he  continued  to 
cultivate  and  enjoy  to  the  close  of  along  life. 

To  his  other  studies,  he  had  added  those  of  metaphysics  and  moral  philo- 
sophy ;  by  means  of  which  he  had  early  become  acquainted  with  Dr  Beattie, 
whom,  he  loved  and  respected  as  an  able  champion  of  truth,  and  with  whom 
he  ever  after  continued  to  live  on  the  footing  of  the  most  intimate  friendship  : 
as  hfe  was  also  happy  in  possessing  the  esteem  and  regard  of  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  literary  characters  of  the  age,  such  as,  Lord  Monboddo,  Lord 

*  Odyss.  lib.  viil.  63.     Thus  translated  by  Pope  : 

'•  Dear  to  the  muse  !  who  gave  his  days  to  flow 
"  With  mighty  blessings,  mixed  with  mighty  woe  : 
"  With  clouds  of  darkness  quenched  his  visual  ray, 
"  But  gave  him  skill  to  raise  the  lofty  lay." 

Pope's  Odyssey,  b.  viii,  /.  ST. 
This  is  the  character  applied  to  Demodocus,  the  prophet  or  bard  at  the 
court  of  the  King  of  Phxacia,  and  by  whom  Homer  is  supposed  to  have  de- 
signed to  represent  himself. 

t  Father  of  th?  present  Lord  Woo^ouseiee, 
3x 


530  APPENDIX. 

Kaimes,  Dr  John  Gregory,  Dr  Ileid,  Principal  Campbell,  Dr  Gerard,  and 
many  others. 

As  an  author,  Mr  Tytler  was  distinguished  by  his  *'  Inquiry,  Historical 
*'  and  Critical,  into  the  Evidence  against  Mary  Qiieen  of  Scots,"  in  opposi- 
tion to  Mr  Hume  and  Dr  Robertson,  in  vvliich  he  warmly  supported  the 
cause  of  that  ill-fated  princess,  and  displayed  an  uncommon  degree  of  acute- 
itess  in  the  examination  of  a  question,  which  has  been  maintained  on  both 
sides  with  consummate  ability. 

Mr  Tytler  also  published  several  other  works  on  historical  and  literary 
subjects,  particularly,  "  The  Poetical  Remains  of  James  the  First,  King  of 
"Scotland  ;"  some  part  of  which  he  had  the  merit  of  having  rescued  from 
the  oblivion  in  which  it  had  long  lain  biu-ied  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  He 
has  also  restored  to  the  same  monai-ch,  the  popular  ballad  of  "  Christ's  Kirk 
'♦  on  the  Green,"  so  much  admired  for  its  M'it  and  humour  ;  but  which  had 
been  improperlj-  ascribed  to  his  descendant.  King  James  the  Fifth.* 

To  the  "  Poetical  Remains  of  James  the  First,"  Mr  Tytler  has  added  a 
most  ingenious  •'  Dissertation  on  the  Scottish  Music,"  a  subject  of  which  he 
was  peculiarly  fond  ;  and  to  the  poem  of  *'  Christ's  Kiik  on  the  Green,"  he 
has  added  a  note,  by  which  he  has  vindicated  to  his  old  and  early  fiiend, 
Allan  Ramsay,  the  property  of  the  beautiful  Scottish   pastoral-comedy, 

*  Mr  Tytler,  in  attributing  this  excellent  and  humorous  composition  to  the  elder  James, 
rests  much  of  his  proof  on  the  evidence  of  what  is  called  the  "  Bannatyne  Manuscript  Collec- 
"  tion  of  Ancient  Scottish  Poems,"  in  the  Advocates'  Library  at  Edinburgh,  and  it  unquestion- 
ably is  a  very  strong  one  ;  yet  he  appears  to  me  not  to  do  all  the  justice  that  he  might  to  his  oven 
argument.  George  Bannatyne,  one  of  the  canons  of  the  cathedral  church  of  Moray,  made  that 
collection,  as  appears  by  its  date,  in  the  year  1568,  only  twenty-six  years  after  the  death  of  King 
James  the  Fifth,  which  happened  in  the  year  1542,  with  whom  therefore  Bannatyne  may  be 
reckoned  to  have  been  contemporary.  Had  the  poem  been  composed  by  this  last  Prince,  it 
must  have  been  a  fact  perfectly  well  known  at  that  time  ;  so  that  it  never  could  have  been 
attributed  by.  Bannatyne  to  the  elder  James,  who  had  been  dead  upwards  of  an  hundred 
years. 

"  The  authority  of  a  MS.  written  more  than  a  century  after  the  death  of  James  the 
First,"  says  Lord  Hailes,  "proves  nothing."  But  if  the  supposition  of  Lord  Hailes  were 
true,  that  the  poem  is  the  work  of  James  the  Fifth,  it  would  in  truth  be  a  question,  as  to 
Bannatyne's  authority,  respecting  a  poem  which  in  that  case  would  be  little  more  than 
twenty-six  years  old,  and  in  regard  to  whi<:h,  Bannatyne  could  not  well  be  mi-staken  ; 
he  could  never,  therefore,  have  assigned  the  poem  to  King  James  the  First.  What  I  al- 
lude to  when  I  say,  that  Mr  Tytkr  does  not  appear  to  me  to  have  done  full  justice  to  his 
own  argument,  is,  that  when  he  mentions  the  signature  in  Bannatyne  as  bearing  the  date 
of  the  elder  James,  Mr  Tytler  has  done  it  with  a  numeral  (1)  merely,  instead  of  printing 
it  at  full  length.  Had  Bannatyne  so  written  it,  there  might  have  been  supposed  some 
confusion  between  the  two  numerals  (1)  and  (5),  v.hich  in  ancient  MSS.  may  often  be 
mistaken  the  one  for  the  other  ;  but  in  the  MS.  itself  it  is  i)Iainly  Avritten  by  Bannatyne, 
"  qd.  King  James  the  First,"  which  is  not  liable  to  any  such  mistake.  Pinkerton, 
though  he  gives  this  poem  to  King  James  the  First  on  other  grounds,  says,  "I  found  no- 
"  thing  on  the  Bannatyne  MS.  which  gives  the 'foimer  {' Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Green')  to 
"  James  the  First.  For  in  the  next  piece  save  one,  it  palpiibly  \mls  Jit't  hr  fourth,  or, 
"  by  mistake, ////(."  (Ancient  Scottish  Poems,  Vol.1,  p.  Ixxxix.)  This  observation 
of  Pinkerton's,  however,  is  not  conclusive;  for  any  one  who  looks  at  the  Bannatyne 
MS.  will  perceive,  that  the  note  on  the  margin  is  written  with  different  ink  from  that 
used  in  writing  the  poem  to  which  it  refers,  and  not  improbably  by  a  different  hand. 

As  a  matter  of  some  curiosity,  I  trust  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  this  disquisition  res- 
pecting the  real  author  of  this  very  singular  specimen  of  aticient  Scottish  minstrelsy. 


APPENDIX.  531 

"  The  Gentle  Shepherd  ;"  of  which  an  attempt  had  been  made,  most  un- 
justly, to  deprive  him,  by  the  absurd  assertion,  that  it  was  only  in  part  the 
composition  of  Ramsay. 

It  appears  from  a  letter  in  the  text,*  to  have  been  Dr  Beattie's  intention 
to  have  written  the  life  of  liis  friend,  Mr  Tytler  ;  and  Iiad  his  health  permit- 
ted him  to  have  executed  such  a  task,  we  may  be  sure,  that,  like  every  lite- 
rary work  of  his,  it  would  have  been  highly  interesting.  Yet  it  m.iy  be  rea- 
sonably doubted,  I  think,  whether  it  would  have  equalled  in  valu,e  the  "  Ac- 
count of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Mr  Tytler,"  read  before  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburgh  by  my  friend  Mr  Henry  Mackenzie,  and  published  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Society,  Vol.  IV.  Appendix,  p.  17.  In  that  biographical 
sketch,  Mr  Mackenzie  has  given  a  most  interesting  and  animated  portrait 
of  Mr  Tytler  ;  to  the  truth  of  every  word  of  which  I  can  mysqlf  completely 
bear  witness,  as  I  was  honoured  during  many  years  with  his  intimate  friend- 
ship ;  and  it  is  not  without  the  strongest  emotions,  that  I  can  now  review,  in 
Mr  Mackenzie's  sketch,  the  character  of  my  much-respected  friend,  whlcli 
he  has  there  so  justly  depicted.  Nor  am  I  less  pleased  with  the  opportunity 
of  paying  this  tribute  of  gratitude  to  the  memory  of  one,  with  whom  I  have 
spent  many  an  instructive,  as  well  as  many  a  liappy  convivial  hour. 

Mr  Tytler  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  I2th  October,  1711,  and  died  12th 
September,  1792. 


Note  [P.J  p.  82. 
The  account  of  Ross  of  I, ochlee,  author  of  the  "  Fortunate  Shepherdess," 
and  other  poems  in  the  broad  Scots  dialect,  given  in  tJiis  letter  of  Dr  Beat- 
tie's  to  Dr  Blacklock,  is  not  only  ciu'ious,  as  containing  the  account  of  a 
native  and  self-taught  poet,  but  as  a  proof  of  the  innate  goodness  of  Dr 
Beattie's  heart,  who,  in  order  to  serve  this  poor  man,  not  only  wrote  and 
published  in  the  newspaper  of  Aberdeen  a  recommendatory  letter  in  prose, 
but  addressed  a  copy  of  verses  to  Mr  Ross,  in  the  sanie  dialect ;  the  firs.t 
and  only  time  Dr  Beattie  ever  attempted  to  write  in  that  manner.  1  had 
once  thoughts  of  inserting  the  verses  here,  as  a  literary  curiosity  j  but  con- 
sidering, that  the  dialect  in  wliich  they  are  written  must  be  completely  unin- 
telligible to  every  native  of  England,  I  laid  aside  the  intention.  In  justice 
to  Dr  Beattie,  I  may  be  allowed  to  add,  however,  that  the  verses  are  far 
from  being  destitute  of  merit  in  their  way,  and  shov/  the  versatility  of  Dr 
Beattie's  genius.  The  ninth  stanza,  in  particular,  contains  a  picture  of  a  pas- 
toral scene,  so  beautiful,  and  drawn  so  exactly  after  nature,  that  1  am  per- 


*  Vide  supra,  p.  299. 


532  APPENDIX. 

suaded  no  native  of  Scotland,  possessed  of  any  taste,  can  read  it  withouj 
singular  delight.     I  have  ventured  to  insert  it  here. 

O  bonny  are  our  gi-eensward  hows,* 

Where  through  the  birksf  the  burny|  i'ows,§ 

And  the  bee  bums,||  and  the  ox  lows. 

And  saft^  winds  rusle. 
And  shepherd-lads  on  sunny  knows,* * 

Blawff  the  blythe  whistle. 

Note  [Q.]  p.  97. 

Dr  Hawkeswortli  was  first  known  as  a  literary  ch  aracter  by  the  publica- 
tion of  the  "Adventurer,"  a  periodical  paper  begun  in  the  year  1752,  and 
continued  to  1754;  than  which  none  since  the  days  of  the  "  Spectator"  is 
better  entitled  to  high  commendation.  With  less  of  stiffness  and  formality 
than  the  "  Ramblei-"  and  "  Idler"  of  Johnson,  and  more  of  real  instruction 
than  the  "  World"  or  "  Connoisseur,"  the  chief  periodical  papers  of  our  own 
times  of  ascertained  merit,  the  "  Adventurer"  seems  to  combine  the  pecu- 
liar merits  of  them  all ;  so  that  I  do  not  know,  if,  since  the  days  of  Addison 
and  Steele,  who  had  the  merit  of  introducing  into  the  circle  of  English  lite- 
rature that  popular  and  excellent  form  of  composition,  a  work  of  higher  value 
of  that  nature  has  appeared  than  tlic  "  Adventurer." 

Dr  Hawkesworth's  next  publication  was  "  Almoran  and  Hamet,"  a  very 
beautiful  Oriental  tale.  He  then  published  a  translation  of  the  Archbishop 
ofCambray's  celebrated  epic  poem,  the  "  Adventures  of  Telemachus,"  in 
elegant  prose.  His  last  work  was,  "  An  Account  of  the  Voyages  underta- 
*•  ken  by  the  order  of  his  present  Majesty,  for  making  Discoveries  in  the 
"  Southern  Hemisphere :"  a  publication,  which,  though  it  produced  to  Dr 
Hawkeswortli  a  largesum  of  money, :j:|  added  little  to  his  fame  as  an  authoi", 
or  to  his  reputation  as  a  moralist.  In  the  preface  to  that  publication,  are 
some  very  vague  and  ill-digested  ideas  respecting  the  doctrine  of  a  particu- 
lar Providence  ;  and  some  parts  of  his  narrative  respecting  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  natives  of  Otaheite,  if  too  strongly  verified  to  admit  of  any 
doubt  as  to  tlie  truth  of  the  story,  had  better,  for  the  credit  of  human  nature, 
and  the  good  of  society,  have  remained  unpublished  to  the  world. 

Dr  Hawkesworth  lived  at  Bromley,  in  Kent,  where  I  had  tlie  pleasure  of 
his  acqu.aintance,  and  died  16th  November,  1783,  aged  fifty-eight.  The  fol- 
lowing beautiful  quotation  from  the  concluding  paper  of  the  "  Adventurer," 
closes  the  inscription  on  his  monument  in  Bromley  church  :  "  The  hour  is 
"  hasting,  in  which  whatever  praise  or  censure  I  have  acquired  willberemem- 
'•bered  with  equal  indifference.  Time,  who  is  impatient  to  date  my  last 
"paper,  will  shortly  moulder  the  hand  which  is  now  writing  it  in  the  dust, 

*  Green  hollows.  t  Birch-trees.  i  Brook.  §  Meanders.  ||   Hums. 

H  Soft.  •*  Knolls.  tt  Blow. 

tt  It  is  said,  no  less  than  six  thousand  pounds. 


APPENDIX.  533 

"  and  still  the  breast  that  now  throbs  at  the  reflection.  But  let  not  this  be 
*'  read  as  something  that  relates  only  to  anotlier  ;  for  a  few  years  only  can 
"  divide  the  eye  tliat  is  now  reading,  from  the  hand  that  has  written." 

Note  [R.]  p.  105. 

Major  Mercer  was  the  son  of  a  private  gentleman  in  Aberdeenshire, 
who,  having  joined  the  Highland  army  in  the  year  1745,  retired  to  France 
after  the  battle  of  CuUoden,  where  he  resided  till  his  death.  His  son  receiv- 
ed his  education  at  the  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  and  afterwards  went  to 
reside  with  his  father  at  Paris.  There  he  spent  his  time  in  elegant  society, 
and  devoted  lus  leisure  hours  to  the  cultivation  of  letters.  Thus  he  acquired 
those  polished  manners,  and  that  taste  for  study,  by  which  he  was  ever  after 
so  highly  distinguished.  He  possessed,  too,  a  very  liigh  degree  of  elegant 
and  chastised  wit  and  humour,  which  made  his  company  to  be  universally 
sought  after  by  those  who  had  the  happiness  of  his  friendship  or  acquaint- 
ance. 

On  the  death  of  his  father  he  returned  to  Scotland,  and  soon  afterwards 
entered  into  the  army,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Seven  Years  War  ;  dur- 
ing the  greatest  part  ofwliich  heservedjn  Germany  under  Prince  Ferdinand 
of  Brunswick,  and  was  in  one  of  the  six  British  regiments  of  infantry,  that 
gained  such  reputation  for  their  gallantly  at  the  memorable  battle  of  Min- 
den. 

The  regiment  in  which  he  afterwards  served,  being  reduced  at  the  Peace 
of  Paris,  he  returned  to  Aberdeen,  where  he  married  Miss  Katharine  Dou- 
glas, sister  to  Lord  Glenbervie,  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  woman,  with 
whom  he  lived  many  years  in  much  happiness. 

In  order  to  fill  up  the  vacant  hours  of  his  then  unemployed  situation,  he 
devoted  his  time  chiefly  to  books,  and  in  particular  recommenced  the  study 
of  the  Greek  language,  (of  which  he  had  acquired  the  rudiments  under  the 
learned  Dr  Blackwell  at  Marischal  College)  with  such  assiduity,  that  Dr 
Beattie,  in  another  letter,  says,  lie  doubted  whether  there  were  in  Scotland  at 
that  time  six  gentlemen  who  knew  Greek  so  well  as  Major  Mercer.  Then  it 
was,  that  by  attention  to  the  purest  models  of  antiquity,  he  corrected  that 
partiality  for  French  literatiu'e,  which  he  had  strongly  imbibed  by  his  early 
habits  of  study  at  Paris. 

Not  long  after,  he  again  entered  into  the  arm}^,  in  which  he  continued  to 
serve  till  about  the  year  1772,  when  he  had  arrived  at  the  rank  of  Major. 
But  he  then  quitted  the  profession,  and  only  resumed  a  military  character, 
when  he  held  a  commission  in  a  regiment  of  Fencibles  during  the  American 
war.  On  the  return  of  peace  he  retired  with  his  family  to  Aberdeen,  where 
he  conti-nued  chiefly  to  reside  during  tlie  rest  of  his  life. 

An  acquaintance  had  first  taken  place  between  him  and  Dr  Beattie,  on  his 
return  to  Aberdeen,  after  the  Seven  Years  War ;  and  as  their  taste  in  books 
and  their  favourite  studies  were  in  some  respects  entirely  similar,  a  lasting 
friendship  ensued,  wliicli  proved  to  botli  a  source  of  t]}e  higliest  enjoyment. 


534  APPENDIX. 

Major  Mercer's  acquaintance  vvhh  books,  especially  of  poetry  and  belies 
lettres,  both  ancient  and  modern,  was  not  only  uncommonly  extensive,  but  he 
himself  possessed  a  rich  and  genuine  poetical  vein,  that  led  him,  for  his  own 
amusement  solely,  to  the  composition  of  some  highly  finished  lyric  pieces. 
These  he  carefully  concealed,  however,  from  tlie  knowledge  of  even  almost 
all  his  most  intimate  friends  ;  and  it  was  with  much  difficulty  that  his  brother- 
in-law,  Lord  Glenbervie,  at  length  could  prevail  on  him  to  permit  a  small 
collection  to  be  printed,  first  anonymously,  afterwards  with  his  name.  In 
perusing  these  beautiful  poems,  the  reader,  I  think,  will  find  they  possess 
much  original  genius,  and  display  a  taste  formed  on  the  best  classic  writers 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  whose  spii-it  their  author  had  completely  imbibed,  es- 
pecially of  Horace,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  model  whom  he  had  propos- 
ed to  himself  for  his  imitation. 

A  few  years  ago.  Major  Mercer  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  wife,  af- 
ter a  long  coitrse  of  severe  indisposition,  during  which  he  had  tended  her 
with  the  most  anxious  assiduity.  Of  that  misfortune,  indeed,  he  may  be 
said  never  to  have  got  the  better  ;  and  he  survived  her  little  more  than  two 
years.  That  circumstance  gave  occasion  to  some  elegant  lines  whicli  Mr 
Hayley  addressed  to  Lord  Glenbervie,  soon  after  Major  Mercer's  death.* 
He  had  long  been  in  a  very  valetudinary,  nervous  state,  till  at  last  his  const^ 
tution  entirely  failed,  and  he  expired  witliout  a  struggle  or  a  pang,  in  the 
seventy-first  year  of  his  age. 

Besides  possessing  no  ordinary  share  of  knowledge  both  of  books  and 
men,  (for  in  the  course  of  his  military  life  especially,  he  had  lived  much  in 
society  of  various  sorts,)  and  being  one  of  the  pleasantest  companions  I  ever 
knew.  Major  Mercer  was  a  man  of  much  piety,  strict  in  the  observance  of 
all  the  ordinances  of  religion,  and  of  high  honour  in  every  transaction  of  life. 

Being  my  relation,  although  somewhat  older,  he  was  one  of  the  earliest 
companions  of  my  playful  liours  ;  and  we  continued  through  life  the  steadiest 
friends  and  most  constant  correspondents.  It  is,  tiierefore,  with  a  melancho- 
ly yet  pleasing  satisfaction,  tliat  I  lookback  on  that  intercourse  of  friendship, 
which  subsisted  between  us  during  more  tlian  half  a  century,  without  inter- 
ruption and  without  decay. 

Major  Mercer  was  bomi  2rth  February,  1734,  and  died  18th  November, 
1804. 


*    EPITAPH    FOR    MAJOR    MERCER. 
Around  this  grave,  ye  types  of  merit  spread! 
Here  Mercer  shares  the  Sabbath  of  the  dead  ; 
Ye  laurels,  here,  with  double  lustre,  bloom. 
To  deck  a  soldier's  and  a  poet's  tomb ! 
Gracefully  pleasing  in  each  manly  part ! 
His  verses,  like  his  virtues,  win  the  heart. 
Grateful  for  wedded  bliss,  (for  years  his  pride  !) 
He  lost  it,  and,  by  fond  affliction,  died. 
Here,  Sculpture!  fix  thy  emblematic  dove. 
To  grace  the  martyr  of  connubial  love  ! 
Hail,  ye  just  pair!  in  blest  re-union  rise  ! 
Revered  on  earth  !  rewarded  in  the  skies  ! 


APPENDIX.  535 

I  Note  [S.]  p.  106. 
The  reader  will  be  pleased  to  excuse  an  inaccuracy  in  the  reference  here. 

Note  [T.]  p.  140. 
The  following  words  which  are  printed  in  ItaUcs,  are  those  on  which  Mr 
Gray  had  made  remarks,  together  with   the  changes  made  by  Dr  Beattie, 
which  are  printed  in  tlie  second  column  in  Roman  characters  : 


Stanza     2.  Obstreperous,  is  retained. 

3.  Bending,  is  retained. 

4.  Pensions,  &c.  ~\ 

'5.  Plaister,  &c.  i.  These  three  excellently  altered. 

6.  Female  heart,  &c.     J 

7.  Rise,  sons  of  harmony,  &c.     No  change  made. 

8.  9,  10,  11.     All  preserved  entire. 
12.  Rainbling,  changed  to  roving. 

17.  Simple,  changed  to  bumble. 

18.  Mad,  is  retained. 

23,  to  39.     How  they  had  been  originally  altered  by  Mr  Gray's 
advice,  does  not  appear. 

Stanza  34.  The  alliteration  is  preserved. 

36,  37,  38.*  Remain  unaltered.  On  this  part  of  the  poem  Mr 
Gray  is  perfectly  just  in  saying,  that  it  has  been  remarked 
by  others  as  well  as  by  him,  that  the  author  indulges  a  little 
too  much  in  description  and  rejieetion. 

42.  All  preserved. 

46.  Infuriate,  is  preserved. 

52.  Medium,  incongruous,  &c.  are  retained. 

54.  Not  altered. 

55.  Vernal,  changed  to  autumnal. 

62.  In  the  first  edition,  it  was  dedicated  to  a  male  friend,  although 
the  name  be  left  blankf .  In  the  second  it  is  inscribed  to 
Mrs.  Montagu. 

Note  [U.]  p.  152. 
The  epitaph,  here  alluded  to,  is  tliat,  I  believe,  first  printed  in  the  edi- 
tion of  his  poems  in  tlie  year  1777,  witli  the  title, 

BEIICG  PART   OF  AN  INSCRIPTION  FOR  A  MONUMENT  TO   BE  ERECTED   BV 
A    GENTLEMAN   TO   THE   MEMORY  OF   HIS  LJVDY. 

and  beginning, 

"  Farewell,  my  best-beloved  !  whose  heavenly  mind, 
"  Genius  with  virtue,  strength  with  softness  joined." 

*  Staiiza  38.     This  alludes  to  a.  singular  but  deep-rooted  aversion,  which  Dr  Beattie 
all  his  life  evinced  for  the  crewing  of  a  cock. 

t  Mr  Arbuthiiot. 


536  APPENDIX. 

It  was  written  at  the  request  of  Ins  dear  and  intimate  fricTid,  Dr  John  Gre- 
gory, for  his  wife,  the  Honourable  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Forbes,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam, Lord  Forbes,  a  very  amiable  and  most  accomplished  woman,  who  died 
at  Aberdeen  27th  September,  1761 ;  and  has  been  published  in  all  the  sub- 
sequent editions  of  Dr  Beattie's  poems.  I  may  add,  that  I  perceive,  by 
some  of  the  letters  inteixhanged  between  them  at  the  time,  that  this  inscrip- 
tion is  mentioned  by  Dr  Gregory  with  much  approbation. 

Note  [X.]  p.  152. 

The  gentleman  to  whom  Dr  Beattie  was  indebted  for  this  musical  curi- 
osity, was  Archibald  Menzies,  Esq  of  Culdares,  in  Perthshire,  North  Bri- 
tain, and  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  his  Majesty's  Customs  for  Scotland, 
who  had  made  a  tour  among  the  Greek  islands  in  the  Levant,  and  being 
fond  of  music,  had  brought  home  with  him  this  composition  as  a  curiosity  ; 
but  of  the  antiquity  and  authenticity  of  which  Dr.  Beattie  seems  to  have  en- 
tertained great  doubts;  which,  to  be  sure,  tend  much  to  diminish  its  value. 
The  transcription  of  the  music,  as  well  as  of  the  note  subjoined  to  this  page, 
Sivefac  similes  of  Dr  Beattie's  handwriting. 

I  have  seen  another  copy  of  this  tune,  which  was  given  by  the  same  gen- 
tleman, Mr  Menzies,  to  Lord  Monboddo;  whose  love  for  every  thing  that 
was  Greek,  is  well  known.  On  the  back  of  Lord  Monboddo's  copy  is  the 
following  memorandum  :  "A  tune  to  which  the  Greeks  at  present  dance, 
"  called  Ro'ineka.  It  imitates  the  winding  of  a  labyrinth  ;  and  is  supposed 
•'  to  be  that  which  Theseus  brought  from  Crete  to  Greece  when  he  returned 
"with  Ariadne.  It  is  mentioned  by  Homer  in  the  shield,  as  having  been 
"  taught  Ariadne  by  Dsedalus.  Plutarch  also  speaks  of  it  in  the  life  of 
•'Theseus,  and  Eustathius  in  his  Commentary  upon  Homer.  It  is  danced 
"  upcHi  all  solemn  occasions  ;  and  the  person  who  leads  the  dance,  carries  a 
"  handkerchief  in  his  hand,  representing  the  signal  which  Theseus  was  to 
"  make  if  he  returned  victorious.  It  begins  very  slow,  increasing  still  in 
"  quickness,  and  then  gradually  sinking  into  a  slow  movement,  as  at  the  be- 
"  ginning," 

Note  [Y.]  p.  274. 
The  publication  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth"  forms  so  distinguished  an  sra, 
not  only  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Beattie,  but  even  in  the  literary  history  of  his 
country,  that  I  feel  it  as  a  duty  to  offer  to  those  of  my  younger  readers,  who 
may  not  yet  be  .acquainted  with  the  work,  a  short  abstract  of  its  contents  : 
and  I  should  be  proud  to  think,  that  I  could  in  any  way  contribute  to  the 
dissemination  of  a  work,  which  was  designed  by  its  author  for  the  young, 
and  which  never  can  be  studied  by  them  without  great  moral  and  intellec- 
tual improvement. 

The  "Essay  on  Truth"  is  divided  by  tlie  author  into  three  great  parts,, 
or  subjects  of  inquiry. 


APPENDIX.  S3T 

In  the  first  part,  it  is  his  object,  "To  ti'ace  the  several  kinds  of  evidence 
"  and  reasoning  up  to  their  first  principles,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the  stan- 
*•  dard  of  truth,  and  explain  its  immutability. 

The  object  of  the  second  part,  is  to  show,  "  That  his  sentiments  on  thi^ 
"  head,  however  inconsistent  with  the  genius  of  scepticism,  and  with  the 
"  practice  and  principles  of  sceptical  writers,  are  yet  perfectly  consistent 
"  with  the  genius  of  true  philosophy,  and  with  the  practice  and  principles  of 
"  those,  whom  all  acknowledge  to  have  been  the  most  successful  in  the  in- 
'•  vestigation  of  truth:"  and  "that  there  are  rules,  by  which  the  more  im- 
"  portant  fallacies  of  the  sceptical  philosophy  maybe  detected  by  every  per- 
"  son  of  common  sense,  even  though  he  should  not  possess  acuteness  or  me- 
"taphysical  knowledge  sufficient  to  qualify  him  for  a  logical  confutation  of 
".them." 

The  object  of  the  third  part  is,  "  To  answer  some  objections  which  he 
"  anticipates,  and  to  make  some  farther  remarks  by  way  of  estimate  of  seep- 
"  ticism  and  sceptical  writers." 

According  to  this  division,  the  first  part  consists  of  two  chapters.  In  the 
first  of  these.  Dr.  Beattie  investigates  "the  perception  of  truth  in  general." 
He  begins  by  shewing,  that  belief  is  a  simple  act  of  mind,  which  admits  of 
no  definition  or  description  in  words,  and  that  truth  is  that  which  the  con- 
stitution of  our  nature  determines  us  to  believe,  and  falsehood  that  which 
the  constitution  of  our  nature  determines  us  to  disbelieve.  Truth,  however, 
is  of  two  kinds,  or  is  perceived  by  two  different  faculties  ;  that  which  we 
perceive  by  the  intervention  or  in  consequence  of  a  proof,  and  that  which 
we  perceive  immediately  and  from  the  original  laws  of  our  constitution.  The 
faculty  by  which  we  perceive  truths  of  the  fiist  kind,  is  Reason,  or  " that 
*'  faculty  which  enables  us,  from  relations  or  ideas  tliat  are  known,  to  inves- 
"  tigate  such  as  are  unknown,  and  without  which  we  never  could  proceed  in 
"  the  discovery  of  truth  a  single  step  beyond  first  principles  or  intuitive 
"  axioms."  To  that  faculty,  on  the  other  hand,  by  wliich  we  perceive  truths 
of  the  second  kind,  or  self-evident  truths,  he  assigns  the  name  of  Coinmon 
Sense,  and  he  employs  this  term  to  denote  "  that  power  of  the  mind  which 
"  pei'ceives  truth  or  commands  belief,  not  by  progressive  argumentation,  but 
"by  an  instantaneous,  instinctive,  and  irresistible  impulse,  derived  neither 
"  from  education  nor  from  habit,  but  from  nature."  As  it  acts  indepen- 
dently of  our  will,  whenever  its  object  is  presented,  according  to  an  estab- 
lished law  of  mind,  he  considers  it  to  be  properly  a  sense  :  and  as  it  acts  in 
a  similar  manner  upon  all  mankind,  when  in  fair  and  natural  circumstances, 
he  considers  it  as  properly  called  common  sense. 

From  this  exposition  of  his  principles,  Dr.  Beattie  proceeds  in  tlie  second 
chapter  to  shew,  "  That  all  reasoning,  in  fact,  terminates  in  first  principles  ; 
"  and  that  all  evidence  is  ultimately  intuitive,  or  perceived  by  that  power  of 
*'  mind  which  he  distinguishes  by  tlwj  name  of  Common  Sense."  To  substan- 
tiate this  fundamental  principle  of  his  doctrine,  he  enters  into  a  long  and  lu- 
minous ilUistration  of  its  trutli,  from  the  general  experience  of  mankind  in 
tlie  various  species  of  evidence.     He  considers,  in  .'separate  article*,  the  na- 


538  APPENDIX. 

ture  of  that  evidence  which  takes  place  in  mathematical  science  ;  th6  evi- 
dence of  our  external  senses,  of  consciousness  and  of  memory  ;  the  evidence 
which  governs  our  reasoning  from  the  effect  to  the  cause  ;  the  evidence  which 
takes  place  inprobahle  and  in  analogical  reasoning;  and  finally,  that  species 
of  evidence  which  determines  our  belief  in  human  testimony.  And  from  this 
wide  and  comprehensive  induction,  he  arrives  at  last  at  the  following  con- 
clusions: "  That  unless  we  believe  many  things  without  proof,  we  never  can 
"  beheve  any  thing  at  all:  that  all  sound  i-easoning  must  ultimately  rest  on 
"  the  principles  of  common  sense,  that  is,  on  principles  intuitively  certain, 
"or  intuitively  probable:  and  consequently,  that  common  sense  is  the  ulti- 
"  mate  judge  of  truth,  to  which  reason  must  continually  act  in  subordina- 
"  tion." 

II.  Having  thus  ascertained  the  existence  of  certain  ultimate  truths, 
which  are  perceived  by  an  appropriate  faculty  of  the  human  mind,  and  upon 
which  it  thus  appears  that  all  reasoning,  in  fact,  is  founded.  Dr.  Beattie  goes 
on,  in  the  second  part  of  his  work,  to  establish  these  conclusions,  by  the  actual 
experience  of  all  legitimate  philosophy,  and  by  the  practice  of  all  those  wh© 
have  been  the  most  successful  in  the  investigation  of  truth.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  exemplifies  his  doctrines  by  the  instances  of  mathematical  and  phy- 
sical science,  in  which  it  is  universally  acknowledged,  that  the  greatest  ad- 
vances of  human  discovery  have  been  made.  He  shews,  that  in  the  former 
of  these  sciences,  all  reasoning  rests  upon  intuitive  evidence,  and  in  the  lat- 
ter, upon  the  evidence  of  sense ;  and  that  if  the  mathematician  or  natural 
philosopher  had  deserted  these  grounds  of  their  reasoning,  or  doubted  of  the 
evidence  they  convey,  their  several  sciences  must  have  stopped  in  the 
threshold,  and  degenerated  into  veibal  and  unproductive  controversy.  It  is 
from  this  satisfactory  illustration,  that  Dr  Beattie  goes  on  with  great  advan- 
tage to  the  analysis  of  that  sceptical  pliilosophy,  which  it  was  the  great  end 
of  liis  labours  to  combat.  For  this  end,  lie  enters,  in  the  second  chapter, 
into  an  historical  account  of  the  progress  of  this  philosopliy  in  modern  times, 
from  its  first  appearance  in  the  works  of  Des  Cartes,  to  its  final  completion 
in  the  writings  of  Mr  Hume.  He  shews,  that  its  principles  are  directly  the 
reverse  of  those  which  have  governed  the  investigations  of  the  mathemati- 
cian and  the  natural  philosopher ;  that  it  substitutes  the  evidence  of  reason- 
ing for  that  of  common  sense  -.  that  its  essence  consists  in  the  rejection  of 
all  those  ultimate  trutlis,  upon  the  admission  of  which  the  certainty  of  all 
other  sciences  is  founded;  and  that  it  terminates  in  conclusions,  which  con- 
tradict all  the  most  genuine  and  universal  principles  of  human  belief.  T» 
illustrate  the  nature  of  this  sceptical  system  still  farther,  he  selects  two  re- 
markable examples  of  the  doctrii^es  of  the  sceptical  philosophy,  and  of  the 
mode  of  reasoning  by  which  they  are  supported,  viz.  t/ie  doctrines  of  the  non- 
existence of  matter,  and  of  the  necessity  of  human  actions.  And  from  the  ana- 
lysis of  these  reasonings,  he  shews,  that,  in  common  with  all  the  reasonings 
of  tliis  philosophical  system,  they  are  marked  by  tliese  peculiar  characteris- 
tics :  "  Tliat  tlie  doctrines  they  are  intended  to  establish,  are  contradictory 
"  to  the  general  belief  of  all  men  in  all  ages  :  that  though  enforced  and  snpr 


APPENDIX.  .  5J9 

"  ported  with  singular  subtilty,  and  though  admitted  by  some  professed  phl- 
"losophers,  they  do  not  produce  that  conviction  which  sound  reasoning  ne- 
"  ver  fails  to  produce  in  the  intelligent  mind  :  and,  lastly,  that  really  to  be- 
"lievc,  and  to  act  from  a  real  belief,  of  such  doctrines  and  reasonings,  must 
"  be  attended  with  fatal  consequences  to  science,  to  virtue,  to  human  society, 
"  and  to  all  the  important  interests  of  mankind." 

III.  In  the  third  part,  under  the  appearance  of  answering  the  objections 
which  he  anticipates,  Dr.  Beattie  pursues,  with  great  force,  his  argument, 
against  that  system  of  sceptical  philosophy  which  he  had  before  analysed. 

In  the  first  cliapter,  in  replying  to  the  objection,  "That  his  system  tends 
"  to  discourage  freedom  of  inquiry,  and  to  encourage  implicit  faith ;"  he  dis- 
tinguishes between  that  implicit  faith,  which  consists  in  acquiescence  with 
tlie  doctrines  of  men,  and  that  which  consists  in  acquiescence  with  the  fun- 
damental laws  of  intellectual  and  moral  belief;  and  shews,  that  as  the  last 
is  the  foundation  of  all  legitimate  philosophy,  it  is  that  also  whicli  alone  his 
doctrine  encourages  and  promotes. 

To  a  second  objection,  "  That  his  system  of  philosophy  is  not  strictly  ac- 
«'  cording  to  logic,  or  some  of  the  established  laws  of  that  science,"  he  re- 
plies, by  admitting  the  objection,  but  by  distinguishing  between  that  techni- 
cal logic  which  has  obtain€d  in  the  schools,  and  that  rational  logic  which  is 
founded  on  the  knowledge  of  the  faculties  of  man,  and  the  established  laws 
of  his  constitution.  With  the  last  of  these,  he  shews,  that  his  system  is  en- 
tirely consistent,  and  that  it  agrees  in  its  principles  with  that  enlightened 
system  of  investigation  which  was  recommended  by  Loi'd  Bacon  :  and  in  the 
illustration  of  this  important  subject,  he  enters,  in  the  second  chapter,  into  a 
long  and  ingenious  disquisition,  to  shew,  that  the  logic  of  tlie  schoolmen  was 
the  legitimate  parent  of  the  modern  system  of  scepticism  ;  that  the  principles 
of  both  are  to  doubt  of  every  thing,  and  to  consider  every  thing  as  a  subject 
of  dispute ;  that  the  investigations  in  both  are  chiefly  supported  either  by  the 
illusion  of  words,  or  the  evidence  of  a  narrow  and  partial  induction  ;  and 
that  they  both  lead  to  conclusions  contrary  either  to  experience,  or  to  truths 
of  tlie  most  indisputable  authority. 

In  the  concluding  chapter,  in  answer  to  the  objection,  "  That  he  has  re- 
*  presented  the  consequences  of  metaphysical  error  as  more  fatal  than  they 
•'  are  found  to  be  in  fact,"  Dr  Beattie  enters  into  a  warm  and  eloquent  disr 
play  of  the  reality  of  these  consequences.  He  shews,  that  the  system  which 
lie  has  combated,  is  hostile  equally  to  the  moral  and  tiie  intellectual  charac- 
ter of  man  ;  tliat  it  establishes  a  method  of  reasoning,  sufficient  to  overturn 
every  truth  upon  which  his  virtue  or  his  piety  is  rested  ;  and  that  no  man 
can  adopt  it  without  losing  all  the  convictions  which  can  render  human  life 
oither  honourable  or  happy. 

As  the  doctrines  and  language  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth"  have  met  with 
some  opposition  by  later  writers,  particularly  by  Dr  Priestley  and  his  follow- 
ers, I  had  hoped  to  gratify  my  readers  with  some  observations  on  that  sub- 
ject by  my  friend  Mr  Professor  Stewart,  who  supjiorts  the  great  doctrines 
of  Dr  Held  and  Dr  Beattie,  in  the  chair  of  moral  philosopjiy  in  this  un.iver- 


540  APPENDIX. 

sity,  with  a  force  of  reasoning,  and  a  dignity  of  eloquence,  altogether  his 
own.  But  in  this  hope  I  have  been  disappointed  by  some  unavoidable  inter- 
ruptions, to  which  Mr  Stewart  has  been  exposed,  that  have  put  it  out  of  his 
power  to  fulfil  his  intention.  I  should  the  more  have  lamented  this  misfor- 
tune, did  I  not  trust  tliat.he  may  hereafter  give  those  observations  a  place 
in  some  of  his  own  compositions. 

Mr  Stewart's  observations  were  to  be  communicated  to  me  in  a  letter,  of 
which  he  had  only  been  able  to  prepare  the  rough  draught :  but  the  account 
of  Dr  Beattie's  mode  of  writing  on  philosophical  subjects,  and  the  eloquent 
encomium  with  which  he  meant  to  wind  up  the  whole,  are  so  truly  charac- 
teristic of  my  deceased  friend,  that  I  cannot  resist  the  desire  of  inserting 
them  here. 

«<»**»  Iji  a  work  professedly  polemical,"  says  Mr  Stewart,  "  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  author  to  aim  at  unity  or  at  elegance  of  design  ;  but  what 
was  really  practicable,  he  appears  to  me  to  have  executed  with  an  uncom- 
mon degree  of  skill  and  judgment;  arranging  his  materials  in  a  distinct  and 
luminous  order,  and  leading  the  attention  agreeably  from  one  part  of  his 
argument  to  another,  by  those  happy  transitions,  which  form  one  of  the  chief 
secrets  in  the  art  of  composition  ; — above  all,  enlivening  and  adorning  his 
impoi'tant  subject,  (so  unattractive  in  itself  to  the  generality  of  readers)  by 
a  power  of  varied  and  happy  illustration,  peculiarly  characteristical  of  his 
own  genius.**** 

"  These  critical  remarks  on  the  "  Essay  on  Truth"  (I  must  request  you 
to  observe,)  says  Mr  Stewart,  "  do  not  in  the  least  affect  the  essential 
merits  of  that  very  valuable  performance ;  and  I  have  stated  them  with 
the  greater  freedom,  because  your  late  excellent  friend  possessed  so  many 
other  unquestionable  claims  to  high  distinction — as  a  moralist,  as  a  critic, 
as  a  grammarian,  as  a  pure  and  classical  writer,  and,  above  all,  as  the  au- 
thor of  the  "  Minstrel."  In  any  one  of  the  different  paths  to  which  his  am- 
bition has  led  him,  it  would  not  perhaps  be  difficult  to  name  so7ne  of  his 
contemporaries  by  whom  he  lias  been  surpassed ;  but  where  is  the  individual 
to  be  found,  who  has  aspired  with  greater  success  to  an  equal  variety  of  lite- 
rary honours  ? 

"  I  am  happy  to  think,  that  the  moral  effect  of  his  works  is  likely  to  be 
so  powerfully  increased  by  the  Memoirs  of  bis  exemplary  life,  wliich  you  are 
preparing  for  the  press  ;  while  the  respect  which  the  public  already  enter- 
tains for  his  genius  and  talents,  cannot  fail  to  be  blended  with  other  senti- 
ments still  more  flattering  to  his  memory,  when  it  is  known  with  what  for- 
titude and  resignation  he  submitted  to  a  series  of  trials,  far  exceeding  those 
which  fall  to  the  common  lot  of  humanity  ;  and  tliat  the  most  vigorous  ex- 
ertions of  his  mind  were  made,  under  the  continued  pressure  of  the  severest 
domestic  affliction,  which  a  heart  like  his  could  be  doomed  to  suffer. 

*'***!  regret  the  extravagant  length  to  which  this  letter  has  insensibly 
extended  ;  but  I  have  no  time  to  attempt  an  abridgment  of  its  contents.  I 
hope,  however,  (if  you  think  any  part  of  it  worth  a  place  in  your  Appendix) 
that  you  may  consider  yourself  as  at  perfect  liberty  to  make  whatever  rcr 


APPENDIX.  541 

trenchments   may  appear  to  you  to  be  proper  ;  marking'  with  asterisks  the 
place  of  any  paragraph  you  may  be  pleased  to  omit,  in  order  to  account  for 
the  want  of  connection,"  &c.  &c. 
To  Sir  William  Forbes,  Bart. 

Dr  Beattie's  philosophical  writings  may  be  properly  divided  into  two 
classes,  Morality  and  Criticism.  But  these  are  so  intimately  blended  in  his 
works,  as  materially  to  support  each  other ;  and  he  loses  no  proper  oppor- 
tunity, even  on  subjects  tliat  seem  least  to  promise  him  the  means  of  en- 
forcing moral  truths,  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  his  readers,  such  views 
of  human  nature  as  tend  to  ennoble  the  understanding,  and  improve  the 
heart. 

Besides  his  great  work,  his  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  that  to  which  he  owed 
the  first  dawn  and  subsequent  advancement  of  his  reputation  as  a  moral 
philosopher,  there  still  remains  to  be  given,  however,  some  account  of  his 
other  Essays.  I  shall  endeavour  to  do  this  as  briefly  as  possible,  and  in 
such  a  manner,  as  that  the  reader,  before  he  begins  to  the  perusal,  may 
have  some  idea  of  what  sort  of  instruction,  or  entertainment,  he  is  likely  to 
ineet  with. 

In  his  first  Essay,  Dr  Beattie  has  given  some  analysis  of  the  sister  arts  of 
poetry  and  music,  with  a  view  to  discover  how  they  affect  the  mind.  He 
was  led,  he  says,  to  this  dissertation,  by  having  heard  it  urged,  that  taste  is 
capricious,  an,d  criticism  variable  ;  and  that  the  rules  of  Aristotle,  being 
founded  on  the  practice  of  Sopliocles  and  Homer,  ought  not  to  be  applied  to 
poems  of  other  ages  and  nations.  He  admits  the  plea,  he  says,  as  far  as 
those  rules  are  local  and  temporary  ;  but  asserts,  that  many  of  them,  being 
founded  in  nature,  are  indispensable,  and  not  to  be  violated  without  impro- 
priety. Notwithstanding  its  apparent  licentiousness,  he  maintains,  that  true 
poetry  is  a  thing  perfectly  rational  and  regular ;  and  that  nothing  can  be 
more  strictly  philosophical  than  that  part  of  criticism  may,  and  ought  to  be, 
Vk'hich  unfolds  the  general  characters  which  distinguish  it  from  otlier  kinds 
of  composition. 

In  the  commencement  of  this  Essay,  Dr  Beattie  examines  a  question 
which  has  been  a  good  deal  agitated  among  the  critics,  What  is  the  end  of 
poetry  ?  Wliether  to  give  pleasure,  or  to  convey  instruction  ?  and  he  decides 
in  favour  of  the  first.  To  instruct,  lie  says,  is  an  end  common  to  all  good 
writing.  If  the  historian  and  philosopher  accomplish  this,  they  will  be  allow- 
ed to  have  acquitted  themselves  well ;  but  the  poet  must  do  a  great  deal  for 
the  sake  of  pleasure  only  ;  and  if  he  fail  to  please,  he  may  deserve  praise  on 
other  accounts,  but  as  a  poet  he  has  done  nothing.  Having  occasion,  in  the 
course  of  this  disquisition,  to  mention  Dryden,  he  delivers  his  opinion  of  tliat 
great  genius  ;  gives  a  character  of  his  writings  at  considerable  length,  and 
draws  a  very  masterly  comparison  between  him  and  Pope. 

In  his  second  chapter,  speaking  of  the  standard  of  poetical  Invention,  he 
takes  occasion  to  introduce  an  animated  and  beautiful  eulogium  on  the  ad- 
vantages and  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  the  study  and  contemplation  of  the 


54i  APPENDIX. 

works  of  nature  ;  a  llicme  on  which  he  delighted  much  to  expatiate.  In  this 
disquisition,  he  introduces  a  character  of  Swift  and  some  of  his  writings, 
particularly  his  "  GuUiver^s  Travels,^'  the  latter  part  of  which  he  severely  re- 
probates. In  his  next  chapter,  he  sliows,  that  poetry  exhibits  a  state  of  na- 
ture somewhat  diflerent  from  the  reality  of  things  ;  and  this  he  illustrates  by 
a  variety  of  observations  drawn  from  contemplating  the  human  character. 
In  the  prosecution  of  this  subject,  he  takes  occasion  to  enter  into  some  ex- 
amination of  the  divine  poems  of  Homer,  Virgil,  and  Milton,  and  of  the  merit 
of  the  characters  found  in  each. 

Connected  with  the  subject  of  poetry,  Dr  Beattie  next  introduces  into 
this  Essay,  remarks  on  music,  as  it  affects  the  mind :  and  here  he  first  ex- 
amines the  question,  Whether  music  be  an  imitative  art  ?,  which  he  resolves 
in  the  negative.  This  lie  illustrates  by  a  variety  of  the  happiest  observa- 
tions, drawn  from  the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  as  well  as  the  practice  of 
the  best  masters,  both  in  music  and  poetry. 

In  his  following  section  he  enquires,  How  the  pleasm-es  we  derive  from 
music  are  to  be  accounted  for  ?  He  is  well  awai-e,  he  says,  of  the  difficulty 
of  this  question.  He  therefore  promises  nothing  more  than  a  few  cursory 
remarks.  Yet  into  these  remai-ks  he  has  contrived  to  introduce  a  variety  of 
reflections,  founded  in  sound  sense,  in  true  philosophy,  a  love  of  virtue,  and 
consummate  knowledge  of  human  nature. 

Then  follows  a  section  on  the  pecidiarities  of  national  music  ;  in  the 
course  of  which  he  particularly  examines  the  two  very  different  species  of 
music  peculiar  to  the  Highlands  and  southern  parts  of  Scotland  ;  and  shows 
how  they  naturally  accord  with  the  face  of  the  coimtry  in  those  opposite  re^ 
gions.  This  section  will  be  perused  with  interest  by  every  native  of  Scot- 
land. It  is  here  that  he  has  introduced  a  Disquisition  on  the  Second  Sight, 
which  he  justly  treats  as  a  visionary,  though  popular,  belief  in  the  Highlands 
of  Scotland. 

In  the  second  part  of  this  Essay,  he  treats,  at  considerable  length,  of 
Poetical  Language,  and  introduces  many  ingenious,  instructive,  and  pleasing 
elucidations,  of  epic,  dramatic,  and  other  species  of  poetry;  and  all  this  he 
illustrates  by  a  variety  of  apposite  examples  from  the  most  esteemed  poems., 
both  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  Towards  the  close  of  this  Essay,  he  en- 
ters, at  considerable  length,  into  an  examination  of  the  structure  of  verse. 
But  for  all  tiiis  the  reader  must  consult  the  Essay  itself,  which  will  afford 
him  a  hig-h  gratification. 

Every  reader  of  any  taste  will  be  struck  with  the  observation,  that,  in 
this  Essay  en  Poetiy  and  Music,  the  language  is  more  ornamented  than  in 
any  other  part  of  his  philosophical  works.  I  have  elsewhei'e  remarked,  that 
although  the  characteristic  qualities  of  Dr  Beattie's  style  are  perspicuity,  sim- 
plicity, and  elegance,  it  is  far  from  being  destitute  of  sublimit)'.  Of  that  as- 
sertion, I  have  drawn  most  of  my  proofs  from  this  very  Essay.*  And  here  it 
is  curious  to  remark  the  manner  in  which  our  philosophical  poet  has  expres's- 

•  Vide  supra,  p.  332. 


APPENDIX.  543 

ed  the  same  sentiment  in  elegant  and  pathetic  prose,  and  In  chaste  and  har- 
monious verse.  •'  It  is  strange,"  he  says,  "  to  observe  the  callousness  of 
"  some  men,  before  whom  all  the  glories  of  heaven  and  earth  pass  in  daily 
"  succession,  without  touching  their  hearts,  elevating  their  fancy,  or  leaving 
"  any  durable  remembrance.  Even  of  those  who  pretend  to  sensibility,  how 
"  many  are  there,  to  whom  the  lustre  of  the  rising  or  setting  sun  ;  the  spark- 
*»  ling  concave  of  the  midnight  sky  ;  the  mountain  forest  tossing  and  roar- 
"  ing  to  the  storm,  or  warbling  with  all  the  melodies  of  a  summer-evening  ; 
"  the  sweet  interchange  of  hill  and  dale,  shade  and  sun-shine,  grove,  lawn, 
"  and  water,  which  an  extensive  landscape  offers  to  the  view  ;  the  scenery 
"  of  the  ocean,  so  lovely,  so  majestic,  and  so  tremendous  ;  the  many  pleasing 
"  varieties  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom,  could  never  afibrd  so  much 
"  real  satisfaction,  as  the  steams  and  noise  of  a  ball-room,  the  insipid  fid- 
"  dling  and  squalling  of  an  opera,  or  the  vexations  and  wranglings  of  a  card- 
"  table."* 

This  is  the  very  same  sentiment  with  that  so  beautifully  expressed  in  the 
"  Mmstrel." 

"  O  how  canst  thou  renounce  the  boundless  store 
"  Of  charms,  which  nature  to  her  votary  yields  ? 
"  The  warbling  woodland,  the  resounding  shore, 
"  The  pomp  of  groves,  and  garniture  of  fields, 
"  All  that  the  genial  ray  of  morning  gilds, 
"  And  all  that  echoes  to  tlie  song  of  even, 
"  All  that  the  mountain's  sheltering  bosom  shields, 
"  And  all  tlie  dread  magnificence  of  heaven, 
*'  Oh  how  canst  thou  renounce,  and  hope  to  be  forgiven  !" 
Minstrel,  Book  I.  Stanza  IX. 

His  following  Essay  is  on  Laughter,  in  which  he  says,  that  in  tracing  out. 
the  cause  of  laughter,  he  means  rather  to  illustrate,  than  to  confute  the  opi- 
nions of  those  who  have  already  written  on  the  same  subject.  Yet  notwith- 
standing former  discoveries,  tlie  following  Essay,  he  thuiks,  may  be  found 
perhaps  to  contain  something  new,  to  throw  liglit  on  certain  points  of  criti- 
cism that  have  not  been  much  attended  to,  and  even  to  have  some  merit  as  a 
famiUar  example  of  philosophical  induction,  carried  on  with  a  strict  regard 
'  to  fact,  and  witiiout  any  bias  in  favour  of  any  theory. 

He  sets  out  with  marking  the  distinction  between  ridiciUous  and  ludicrous 
ideas,  as  both  exciting  laughter,  although  in  different  ways  ;  and  this  leads 
him  to  divide  laxtgker  into  two  kinds,  which  he  distinguishes  into,  what  lie 
calls,  animal  and  sentimental.  He  then  gives  the  several  opinions,  which 
different  philosophers  have  entertained  on  the  subject,  Aristotle,  Hobbes, 
Hutcheson,  Akenside,  and  this  leads  him  to  enquire  into  the  cause  of  laugh- 
t'c'r.     In  the  course  of  tliese  disquisitions,  he  has  introduced   and  treated  erf 

•  Essay  on  Toetry  and  Milsic,  Part  I.  ctep.  ii.  p.  355. 


544  APPENDIX. 

a  variety  of  literary  topics,  which  he  has  embellished  with  hifinite  art  and 
critical  skill ;  and  in  doing  this,  he  has  contrived,  with  a  dexterity  peculiar 
to  himself,  evert  from  so  unpromising-  a  subject  as  Laughter  and  Ludicrous 
Composition,  to  introduce  some  moral  disquisitions  of  great  value,  with  cha- 
racters of  comedies,  and  satires,  and  novels,  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  show 
the  charms  of  virtue,  the  efficacy  of  religion,  and  the  odious  deformity  of 
vice.  In  particular,  he  reprobates,  with  becoming  zeal  and  propriety,  all 
those  attempts  to  excite  ridicule  and  laughter,  by  parodies  of  scripture,  and 
profane  allusions  to  sacred  things.  His  concluding-  chapter  is  an  attempt  to 
account  for  the  superiority  of  the  moderns,  in  ludicrous  writing,  over  the 
ancients,  which  he  clearly  decides  in  favour  of  tlie  former,  and  in  proof  of 
which  he  produces  many  ingenious  arguments. 

Upon  the  whole,  this  is  an  admirable  Essay  ;  displaying  much  knowledge 
of  the  human  heart  and  understanding ;  and  whence,  whoever  reads  it  with 
attention,  will  reap  both  entertainment  and  instruction  in  no  ordinary  mea- 
sure. 

The  concluding  Essay,  in  this  volume,  contains  remarks  on  the  utility  of 
classical  learning  ;  in  which  he  combats  the  absurd  idea,  that  the  study  of 
Greek  and  Roman  learning  is  of  little  or  no  value,  and  may  very  readily  be 
dispensed  with.  He  strongly  urges  all  the  usual  arguments  in  support  of 
his  proposition,  with  perspicuity  and  force  ;  and  in  the  most  satisfactory 
manner  answers  all  the  hackneyed  objections  that  have  been  brought  for- 
ward by  those,  who  undervalue  classical  learning,  which,  as  Dr  Beattie  has 
justly  observed,  he,  who  is  possessed  of,  would  not  relinquish  on  any  conside- 
ration ;  and  that  those  persons  are  most  delighted  with  the  ancient  writers, 
who  understand  them  best. 

Such  were  the  Essays,  which  Dr  Beattie  added  to  that  edition  of  the 
"Essay  on  Truth,"  published  in  1776  ;  and  which,  it  must  be  allowed,  were 
a  very  valuable  present  to  his  subscribei"s  to  that  excellent  performance. 

He  afterwards  published,  in  the  year  1783,  "  Dissertations  Moral  and 
"  Critical,"  of  which  I  proceed  to  give  some  brief  account. 

They  were  first  composed,  as  Dr  Beattie  tells  In  his  preface,  in  a  differ- 
ent form,  being  part  of  a  course  of  prelections,  read  to  those  young  gentle- 
men, whom  it  was  his  business  to  initiate  in  the  elements  of  moral  science. 
This,  he  hopes,  will  account  for  the  frequent  plainness  of  the  style  ;  for  the 
introduction  of  practical  and  serious  observations  ;  and  for  a  greater  variety 
of  illustration,  than  would  have  been  requisite,  if  his  hearers  had  been  of 
riper  years,  or  more  accustomed  to  abstract  enquiry.  He  had  been  desired 
tp  publish  the  whole  system  of  lectures,  but  had  been  prevented  by  many 
considerations.  He  therefore  gave  only  a  few  detached  passages,  and  wished 
them  to  be  considered  as  separate  and  distinct  Essays.  In  treating  of  them, 
he  wished  to  avoid  all  matters  of  nice  curiosity,  and  confine  himself  to  such 
as  seem  to  promise  amusement  and  practical  information. 

The  first  Essay  is  on  Memory  and  Imagination.  It  commences  with 
some  general  observations  on  the  natur;d  connection  between  the  soul  and 
body,  while  we  remain  in  this  world,  as  far  as  Tnemorj  is  concerned;  which 


APPENDIX.  545 

he  justly  considers  as  one  of  those  peculiarities  that  distinguish  man  from 
the  iivierior  animals. 

In  his  first  chapter,  lie  marks  the  differencls  between  onemory  and  imagi- 
nation. In  his  second  chapter,  he  gives  a  general  account  of  this  facult)', 
its  phenomena  and  laws,  and  shows,  that  the  great  art  of  ?neTOo;-j;  is  attention. 
This  part  of  his  subject  he  illustrates  by  a  variety  of  lively  and  ingenious  ob- 
servations. Among  other  things,  he  gives  account  of  a  curious  invention, 
frequently  spoken  of  by  the  old  rhetoricians,  under  the  name  of  artijicial  nie- 
?norv,  whereof  both  Cicero  and  Qiiintiliau' have  given  an  account,  though 
Jieither  of  them  so  distinctly  as  could  be  wished.  Of  this,  he  gives  what, 
he  says,  he  conceives  to  be  a  description,  but  wliich,  if  just,  he  agrees  Mith 
Qiiintllian  that  it  was  too  complex  ;  and  I  suppose  it  will  be  generally  allowed, 
that  to  remember  the  art  woidd  require  as  great  an  exertion  of  thought  and 
memory,  as  would  be  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  the  thing  to  be  remembered. 
Here  he  introduces  a  dissertation  on  hand-writing,  as  connected  with  tran- 
scription, which  he  deems  an  useful  help  to  memory.  He  then  goes  on  to 
show  the  varieties  o?  memory ;  and  after  having  touched  on  these  points,  he 
gives  us  a  very  sensible  chai?ter  on  the  various  methods  of  impi'oving  memo- 
ry, which  he  concludes  with  a  dis-quisitioii  on  the  oratory  of  the  pulpit,  the 
bar,  and  the  senate,  comparing  the  one  mode  of  public  speaking  with  the 
other;  in  the  course  of  which  he  examines  the  question,  whether  sermons 
ought  to  be  delivered  from  memory,  or  from  a  written  copy,  and  clearly  gives 
the  preference  to  the  latter:  for  which  he  quotes  the  authority  of  some  of 
the  most  esteemed  preachers  of  the  church  of  England.*  For  the  truth  of 
this  remark,  he  appeals  to  "  those  who  have  Iiad  the  happiness  to  observe, 
"  and  to  feel,  that  sublime  and  apostolic  simplicity,  and  that  mild,  tJioiigh 
"  commanding  energy,  which  distinguish  both  the  composition  and  the  pro- 
"nunciation  of  a  Porteus  and  a  Hurd."f 

Tiie  concluding  chapter  of  this  ingenious  Essay  is  occupied  with  remarks 
on  the  memory  of  brutes,  which  he  admits  they  enjoy  in  a  certain  degree. 
Yet  with  all  the  helps  which  animals  derive  from  instinct,  or  from  more  acute 
organs  of  sense,  how  inferior,  he  exclaims,  is  the  memory  of  the  most  in- 
telligent brute  to  that  of  reasonable  beings  !  The  disproportion  is  almost  in- 
finite. He  then  gives  an  animated  and  brilliant  eulogium  on  the  extent  and 
capacity  of  the  human  memory,  and  of  the  powers  of  which  he  gives  a  slight 
recapitulation  in  the  most  glowing  colours.  I  lament  that  the  plan  and  li- 
mited nature  of  this  analysis  forbid  my  giving  here  the  whole  of  this  beauti- 
ful passage  ;  but  I  cannot  resist  the  pleasure  of  quoting  the  sublime  conclu- 
sion of  this  energetic  address  to  his  audience. 

"  Let  us  hence  learn,"  says  he,  "  to  set  a  prope-r  value  on  the  dignity  of 
"the  human  soul;  and  to  think  of  its  intellectual  faculties  as  inexpressibly 
"  superior,  both  in  kind  and  in  degree,  to  tliose  of  the  animal  world.  If  we 
"  be  capable  of  endless  improvement  (and  what  reason  is  there  to  believe 
"  that  we  are  not),  surely  our  destination  musi  be  diilerent  from  theirs  ;  for 

*  Dissert.  Mor.  and  Critic,  p.  47—57. 

t  The  prestiit  Bisliops  of  London  and  Worcester, 

3  z 


^46  APPENDIX. 

"  the  author  of  nature  does  nothing  in  vain ;  and  an  understanding,  far  more 
"  limited  than  that  of  man,  would  be  sufficient  for  all  tlie  purposes  of  acrea- 
■*' ture,  whose  duration  is  circumscribed  by  the  term  of  an  hundred  years. 
"  Our  minds,  therefore,  must  have  been  destined  for  scenes  of  improvement 
«'  more  extensive  and  glorious,  than  these  below  ;  and  our  being  to  compre- 
"hend  peilods  more  durable,  than  those  that  are  measured  out  by  the 
"  sun."* 

In  his  subsequent  Dissertation,  on  Imagination,  Dr  Beattie  gives  a  gene- 
ral account  of  that  facidty  of  the  mind.  He  treats  of  the  association  of 
ideas,  and  the  v.arious  causes  whence  it  proceeds.  He  then  introduces  a 
disquisition  on  the  origin  of  beauty,  for  which  he  in  part  endeavours  to 
account  ;  and  he  has  two  chapters,  the  one  containing  remarks  on  Genius, 
and  the  other  on  Taste  and  its  improvements,  as  they  are  connected  with 
the  I^nagination.  This  dissertation,  wliicli  is  of  considerable  length,  will  be 
deemed,  I  suspect,  by  most  of  his  readers,  at  least  it  surely  appears  so  to 
me,  to  be  of  rather  too  abstracted  and  metaphysical  a  nature.  Yet  it  cer- 
tainly contains  much  depth  of  thinking,  a-ul  many  proofs  of  original  genius, 
as  well  as  critical  knowl^'dge,  which  those  readers  who  are  fond  of  sucli  spe- 
culations, will  peruse  with  pleasure.  He  concludes  this  Essay,  by  I'eturning 
to  the  subject  of  Imagination  ;  with  some  directions  for  a  proper  regulation 
of  it.  This  last  part  of  his  subject  is  highly  interesting,  and  very  much  in- 
tended for  the  use  of  studious  and  literary  persons.  Unliappih,  he  was  but 
too  well  qualified,  from  his  own  melancholy  experience,  and  the  dread- 
ftil  condition  to  which  his  own  health  had  been  i-ediiced,  by  intense 
application  to  study,  to  treat  on  the  evils  attendant  on  a  literary  coiu'se 
of  life.  In  the  close  of  this  Essay,  he  seizes,  as  usual  the  opportunity 
of  introducing  a  most  beautiful  eulogy  on  the  genius  and  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  in  language  so  expressive  and  appropriate,  that  I  cannot  resist 
the  pleasure  of  transcribing  it  here. 

"  Lastly,"  says  Dr  Beattie,  "let  those  who  wish  to  preserve  their  imagi- 
"  nation  in  a  cheerful  and  liealthy  state,  cultivate  piety,  and  guard  against 
"superstition;  by  forming  right  notions  of  God's  adorable  bemg  and  provi- 
"  dence,  and  cherishing  tlie  correspondent  affections  of  love,  veneration,  and 
"gratitude.  Superstition  is  fierce  and  gloomy;  but  true  Christianity  gives 
"  glory  to  the  divine  nature,  and  is  most  comfortable  to  the  human.  It 
"  teaches,  that  nothing  happens,  but  by  the  permission  of  Him,  who  is 
•'greatest,  wisest,  and  best;  that  the  adversities  which  befal  us  may  all  ba 
" improved  into  blessings  :  that  man  is  indeed  a  sinfid  creature;  but  that 
••  God  has  graciously  provided  for  him  the  means  both  of  pardon  and  of  hap- 
*'piness;  that  if  we  obey  the  Gospel,  than  which  no  system  of  doctrine  can 
"  be  more  excellent  in  itself,  or  supported  by  better  evidence ;  Our  light  af- 
"Jlictions,  nxhich  are  but  for  a  moment,  shall  luork  nut  for  us  an  eternal  lueight 
"  of  glory  :  for  that  when  these  transitory  scenes  disappear,  an  endless  slate 
"of  things  will  commence,  wherein  virtue  shall  triumph,  and  all  lier  tears  be 

*  Dissertations  Moral  and  Critical,  p.  68. 


APPENDIX.  547 

"  wiped  away  for  ever  j  wherein  there  will  be  as  much  felicity,  as  the  most 
"  exalted  benevolence  can  desire,  and  no  move  punishment,  than  the  most 
"  perfect  justice  will  approve.  He  who  believes  all  this,  and  endeavours  to 
"  act  accordingly,  must  look  upon  the  calamities  of  life  as  not  very  materials 
"  and,  while  he  retains  the  command  of  his  faculties,  may  have  continually 
"  present  to  his  imagination  the  most  subhme,  and  most  transporting  views, 
"that  it  is  possible  for  a  human  being  either  to  wish  for,  or  to  compre- 
''  hend." 

"  The  divine  Omnipotence  ought  at  all  times  to  inspire  us  with  venera- 
"tion  and  holy  fear.  By  the  simplest  means,  or  without  any  means,  it  can 
*'  accomplish  the  most  important  purposes.  This  very  faculty  of  imagina- 
"tion.the  Deity  can  make  to  each  of  us,  even  in  this  world,  the  instrument 
"  of  exquisite  happiness,  or  consummate  misery,  by  setting  before  it  the  most 
•'  glorious  objects  of  hope,  or  the  most  tremendous  images  of  despair.  What 
"  a  blessing  art-  cheerful  thoughts,  and  a  sound  imagination  !  And  what  man 
"  can  say,  that  his  imagination  and  thoughts  are  always,  or  indeed  at  any 
"  time,  in  his  own  power  ?  Let  us,  therefore,  learn  humility,  and  seek  the 
"  Divine  favour  above  all  things.  And  while  we  endeavour  to  make  a  right 
•'  use  of  the  rules  he  has  prescribed,  or  gives  us  grace  to  discover,  for  puri- 
•'  fying  and  improving  our  nature,  let  us  look  up  for  aid  to  him,  whose  influ- 
"ence  alone  can  render  them  successful."* 

His  nest  Disseitation  is  that  on  Dreaming.  Of  this  production  he  was 
himself  exceedingly  fond  :  and  yet  it  cannot  be  said,  I  think,  to  add  much 
to  our  stock  of  ideas.  The  truth  is,  Dr  Beattie  was  a  great  observer  of  his 
own  dreams,  and  therefore  has  probably  attached  more  importance  to  the 
subject  tlian  any  thing  so  much  out  of  our  own  power  may  seem  to  de- 
serve. An  abridgment  of  this  Dissertation  on  Dreaming  is  inserted  in  the 
•*  Mirror,"  Nos.  73  and  "4,  and  it  is  mentioned  above,  p.  72. 

Dr  Beattie's  next,  and  by  mucli  his  longest  and  most  elaborate.  Disser- 
tation, istliatonthe  Theory  of  Language.  It  combines,  indeed,  much  learn- 
ing and  great  knowledge  of  the  human  mind,  witli  deep  philosophical  re- 
search ;  and  as  it  was  a  subject  which  he  had  studied  profoundly,  he  seems 
to  have  treated  it  with  more  than  common  ability,  so  as  to  have  left  little  for 
the  scholar  to  wish  for. 

He  has  divided  his  Dissertation  into  two  parts,  in  which  he  treats, 

1.  Of  the  Origin  and  General  Nature  of  Speech. 

2.  Of  Universal  Grammar, 

The  faculty  of  speech,  he  says,  to  what  class  soever  of  human  powers  we 
refer  it,  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  cliai-acters  ot  ournature;  none  of  tliein- 
forior  animals  being  in  any  degree  possessed  of  it.  For  we  must  not  call  by 
the  name  of  speech  that  imitation  of  human  articulate  voice,  which  parrots 
and  some  other  birds  are  capable  of;  speech  implying  thought  and  consci- 
ousness, and  the  power  of  separating  and  arranging  our  ideas,  which  are  fa- 


*  Dissertations  Moral  aad  Criti<:»l,  p.  205. 


548  APPENDIX. 

culties  peculiar  to  rational  niiiuls.  That  some  inferior  'animals  should  be 
able  to  mimic  human  articulation,  will  not  seem  wonderful,  when  wc  recol- 
lect, that  even  by  machines  certain  words  have  been  articulated;  but  that 
the  parrot  should  annex  thought  to  the  word  he  utters,  is  as  unlikely  as  tliat 
a  machine  should  do  so.  Rogue  and  knave  are  uttered  by  every  parrot ;  but 
the  words  they  stand  for  are  incomprehensible,  except  by  beings  endued  with 
reason  and  a  moi-al  faculty. 

It  has,  however,  been  a  common  opinion,  and  is  probable  enough,  that 
there  may  be,  among  irrational  animals,  something  which,  by  a  figure,  we 
may  call  language  ■■  some  mode  by  which  one  animal  can  make  his  thoughts, 
his  intentions,  and  his  wishes  known  to  another  of  his  own  species.  This  ya 
so  well  authenticated,  as  scarcely  to  admit  of  a  doubt.*  Pope  has  elegantly 
•employed  the  epithet  half-reasoning  elephant  to  this  purpose,  even  as  the  in- 
stinctive economy  of  bees  is  figuratively  called  government.  This  at  least  is 
evident,  that  the  natural  voices  of  one  animal  aie  in  some  degree  intelligi- 
ble, or  convey  particular  feelings  or  impulses  to  others  of  the  same  species. 
To  dogs  and  horses,  and  even  to  other  creatures  of  less  sagacity,  the  voice 
of  their  master  soon  becomes  familiar  ;  and  they  learn  to  perform  certain 
actions,  on  receiving  certain  audible  or  visible  signals  from  those  Mhom  they 
are  wont  to  obey.  This,  however,  is  a  proof,  rather  of  their  docility,  and  of 
the  quickness  of  their  eye  and  ear,  than  of  any  intelligence  in  regard  to  lan- 
guage ;  and  these,  and  the  like  animal  voices,  have  no  analogy  with  human 
speech.  For,  first,  men  speak  by  art  and  imitation,  whereas  the  voices  in 
question  are  wlioUy  instinctive:  for,  that  a  dog,  which  had  never  heard  ano- 
ther bark,  wovild  notwithstanding  bark  himself,  admits  of  no  doubt ;  and 
that  a  man,  who  had  never  heard  any  language,  would  not  speak  any,  is 
equally  certain. 

After  having  treated,  somewhat  anatori-lcally,  of  the  organs  of  speecli, 
and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  formed,  Dr  Beattle  proceeds  to  consider  the 
English  alpliabet ;  and,  in  the  course  of  this  disquisition,  he  Introduces  the 
art  of  teaching  those  who  are  deaf  and  dumb  to  speak.  He  has  also  a  chap- 
ter on  the  numbers  and  measures  of  English  poetry,  as  depending  on  empha- 
sis ;  their  numbei-s  and  varieties,  illustrated  in  a  very  entertaining  manner, 
by  apposite  examples. 

Dr  Beattle  then  examines  tlic  absurdity  of  the  Epicurean  doctrine  of  the 
origin  of  language,  tliat  it  is  of  human  invention  ;  and  he  proves,  that  if  ever 
there  was  a  time  when  all  mankind  were,  as  the  Epicureans  supposed,  viutmn 
et  turpc  pecus,  a  dumb  and  biutal  race  of  animals,  all  mankind  must,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  tilings,  have  continued  dumb  to  this  day.  For,  to  sucii 
animals  speech  could  not  be  necessary ;  as  they  are  supposed  to  have  existed 
for  ages  without  it :  and  it  is  not  to  be  imagined,  that  dumb  and  beastly  sa- 
vages would  ever  think  of  contriving  unnecessary  arts,  whei'eof  they  had  no 
example  in  the  world  around  them,  which  they  had  never  felt  any  inconveni- 
ence from  the  want  of,  and  wiiich  never  had  been  attem])tcd  by  other  ani- 

*  See  the  remarkable  anecdote  of  the  gentleman's  dojj  at  St  ,\lban's,  mentioned  in 
B^figley's  "  Animal  Biography,"  Vol.  I.  p.  226. 


APPENDIX,  549 

mals.  Speed),  therefore,  it  is  clear,  if  invented  at  aH,  must  have  been  in- 
vented, either  by  cliiklren,  who  were  incapable  of  invention,  or  by  men  wiio 
were  incapable  of  speech  ;  and  therefore,  reason,  as  well  as  history,  inti- 
mates, that  mankind  in  all  ages  must  have  been  speaking  munials ;  the  young" 
having  constantly  acquired  this  art  by  imitating  those  who  were  elder.  And 
we  may  warrantably  suppose,  that  our  first  parents  must  have  received  it  by 
immediate  inspiration  from  the  Almi'j:hty. 

He  then  gives  some  account  of  the  art  of  writing ;  its  importance  and  ori- 
gin ;  different  sorts  of  it  practised  by  different  nations ;  a  sliort  history  of 
printing:  all  of  which  topics  he  discusses  in  a  brief  but  agreeable  and  amu- 
sing manner;  and  here  he  ends  his  first  part.  His  second  part  of  the  77jeory 
of  Language  treats  at  great  length  of  Universal  Grammar,  in  a  very  elaborate, 
philological  disquisition,  in  which  he  acknowledges  his  obligations  to  Mr 
Harris,  the  author  of  "  Hermes,^'  and  to  Lord  Monboddo,  on  '♦  T'/w  Origin 
"  ami  Progress  of  Language,"  althong-h  he  occasionally  differs  from  both  these 
learned  writers.  He  also  mentions  our  countryman,  the  late  Mr  Thomas 
Ruddiman,  with  much  respect ;  whom  he  characterises  as  the  most  accurate 
of  all  grammarians.  He  goes  through,  and  examines  with  much  care,  tiie 
various  parts  of  speech,  with  an  eye  to  the  knowledge  of  universal  grammar, 
and  leaves  nothing  unexamined  that  he  thinks  may  illustrate  the  subject ;  a 
more  minute  analysis  of  it  here,  however,  would  be  foreign  from  my  present 
purpose. 

His  next  Dissertation  is  of  a  m\ich  more  popular  and  entertaining  nature, 
on  Fable  and  Roinance.  In  the  commencement  of  this  dissertation,  he  has 
some  general  remarks  on  the  nature  of  Fable,  as  a  vehicle  for  the  convey- 
ance of  moral  instruction,  such  as,  Jothan's  parable  of  the  trees  choosing  a. 
king,  in  the  book  of  "Judges,"  and  the  famous  apologue  of  a  contention  be- 
^veen  the  parts  of  the  human  body,  by  which  Menenius  Agrippa  satisfied 
the  people  of  Rome,  that  the  welfare  of  the  state  depended  on  the  union  of 
tl)e  several  members  of  it.  He  then  descants  on  tlie  Greek  apologues  as- 
cribed to  iEsop,  and  the  Latin  ones  of  Phaedrus,  as  master-pieces  in  this  way 
of  writing;  which  have  hardly  been  equalled  by  the  best  of  our  modern  fh- 
bulists.  He  then  takes  notice,  that  the  Oriental  nations  have  long  been  fa- 
mous for  fabulous  narrative ;  whicli  he  accounts  for  from  tlie  indolence  pe- 
culiar to  the  genial  climates  of  Asia,  and  the  luxurious  life  which  the  kino-s 
and  other  gi-eat  men  of  those  countries  lead  in  their  seraglios,  which  have 
made  them  seek  for  this  sort  of  amusement,  and  set  a  high  value  on  it.  And. 
here  he  mentions  the  celebrated  collection  of  Oriental  fables,  commonly 
called,  "  The  Arabian  Nights  Entertainment,  or,  the  Thousand  and  One 
"Tales." 

This  leads  him  to  take  notice,  that  in  the  "  Spectator,"  "  Rambler,"  and 
"  Adventurer,"  there  are  many  fables  in  the  Eastern  manner,  most  of  them 
very  pleasing,  and  of  a-  moral  tendency.  "  Rasselas"  by  Johnson,  and  "  Al- 
"  moran  and  Hamct"  by  Hawkesworth,  are  celebrated  performances  in  this 
way.  Addison  excels  in  this  sort  of  fable ;  and  the  Vision  of  Mirza  in  the 
^  Spectator,"  is  the  finest  piece  of  the  kind  any  where  to  be  met  with. 


SSO  APPENDIX. 

Dr  Beattie,  proceeding'  in  his  Dissertation,  divides  modern  prose  fuble 
into  two  kinds,  the  Allegorical  and  Poetical.  The  first  he  subdivides  into  the 
Historical  and  tlie  Moral,  and  the  second  into  the  Serious  and  the  Comic. 
Of"  these  four  species  of  modern  fable,  he  treats  in  their  order,  illusrtrating 
his  subject  with  apposite  and  pleasing  examples;  in  the  couise  of  which  he 
gives  the  characters  of  a  number  of  our  most  celebrated  and  popular  produc- 
tions of  this  nature  :  and,  according  to  his  uniform  practice,  omitting  no  op- 
portunity of  checking  vice,  and  enforcing  a  love  of  virtue  and  religion.  Tlius, 
in  speaking  of  Swift's  "  Gulliver's  Travels,"  and  "  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  while  he 
does  ample  justice  to  the  wit,  the  humour,  the  satire,  so  largely  to  be  found 
in  tjiose  celebrated  performances,  Dr  Beattie  reprobates  with  the  utmost 
severity,  as  he  had  already  done  on  a  former  occasion,  (see  p.  320.)  the  plan 
of  the  author,  who,  in  the  last  of  the  four  voj^ages,  has  exerted  himself  to 
the  utmost  in  an  absurd  and  abominable  fictioiv,  presenting  us  with  rational 
beasts  and  irrational  men,  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  most  obvious  laws 
of  nature  ;  and  because  there  must  be  something  of  an  irreligious  tendency 
in  a  work,  which,  like  this,  ascribes  the  perfection  of  reason  and  of  happiness 
to  a  race  of  beings,  who  are  said  to  be  destitute  of  every  religious  idea.  But 
what  is  yet  worse,  if  any  thing  can  be  worse,  this  tale  represents  human  na- 
ture itself  as  the  object  of  contempt  and  abhorrence.  "  Let  the  ridicule  of 
'•  wit,"  says  Dr  Beattie,  "be  pointed  at  the  follies,  and  let  the  scourge  of 
"  satire  be  brandished  at  the  crimes  of  mankind  ;  all  this  is  both  pardonable 
"  and  praise-worthy,  because  it  may  be  done  with  a  good  intention,  and  pro- 
"  duce  guod  effects.  But  when  a  writer  endeavours  to  make  us  dissatisfied 
"  with  that  Providence  who  has  made  us  wliat  we  are,  and  whose  dispensa- 
•'  tions  towards  tlie  human  race  are  so  peculiarly  and  so  divinely  benefi- 
'*  cent,  such  a  writer,  in  so  doing,  proves  himself  the  enemy,  not  of  man 
"only,  but  of  goodness  itself:  and  his  work  can  never  be  allowed  to  be  in- 
"  nocent." 

The  "  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  Dr  Beattie  goes  on  to  sa}',  is  another  allegorical 
fable,  by  the  same  masterly  hand;  and,  like  the  former,  supplies  no  httle 
matter,  both  of  admiration  and  of  blame.  As  a  piece  of  humorous  writing 
it  is  unequalled.  The  subject  is  religion  ;  but  the  allegory,  under  which  lie 
typifies  the  Reformation,  is  too  mean  for  an  argument  of  so  great  dignity ; 
and  tends  to  pi'oduce  in  the  mind  of  the  reader,  some  very  disagreeable  as- 
sociations of  the  most  solemn  truths  with  ludicrous  ideas. 

Dr  Beattie  now  enters  on  what  he  considers  as  the  chief  part  of  his  sub- 
ject, the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Modern  Romance,  or  Poetical  Prose  Fable, 
which,  being  connected  with  so  many  tojjics  of  importance,  if  fully  illustra- 
ted, he  says,  would  tlu-ow  great  light  upon  the  history  and  politics,  the  man- 
ners and  the  literature  of  these  latter  ages. 

In  the  progress  of  his  Dissertation,  accordingly,  he  gives  a  most  instruc- 
tive, distinct,  and  concise,  account  of  the  state  of  Europe  during  what  are 
called  the  dark  or  -middle  ages,  of  those  northern  nations  who  over-ran  the 
Roman  empire,  of  the  form  of  policy  introduced  by  them,  which  is  com- 
monly called  the  feudal  govcnmient;  tliis  government  it  was,  which,  among 


APPENDIX.  551 

many  other  strange  institutions,  gave  rise  to  chivalry,  and  it  was  chivahy 
which  gave  birth  and  form  to  that  sort  of  fabulous  writing,  which  we  term 
Rotnance.  Here  he  gives  a  most  entertaining  account  of  the  Knights  errant, 
who  flourished  at  this  time  in  Europe,  of  the  Crusades,  of  the  Troubadours  and 
jongleurs,  and  of  the  revival  of  letters  in  Italy  and  the  southern  provinces  of 
France. 

After  having  discussed  these  various  topics  briefly,  but  in  a  most  agreea- 
ble and  entertaining  manner,  becomes  to  the  modern  Serious  and  Comic  Ro- 
unance,  which  he  analizes  with  great  exactness,  but  with  a  degree  of  minute- 
ness though  which  it  was  impossible  here  to  follow  him,  while  he  criticises 
and  characterises  Ricliardson,  Fielding,  and  SmoUet,  pointing  out  the  res- 
pective merits  and  defects  of  eacli  in  a  very  masterly  manner.  He  con- 
cludes this  Dissertation  with  the  following  ver)' just  and  useful  observations: 
*'  Let  not  the  usefulness  of  romance-writing,"  says  he,  "  be  estimated  by 
"  the  length  of  my  discourse  upon  it.  Romances  are  a  dangerous  recreation. 
"  A  few,  no  doubt,  may  be  friendly  to  good  taste  and  good  morals  ;  but  far 
"  the  greater  part  are  unskilfully  written,  and  tend  to  corrupt  the  heart  and 
"  stimulate  the  passions.  A  habit  of  reading  them  breeds  a  dislike  to  his- 
"  tory,  and  all  the  substantial  parts  of  knowledge ;  withdraws  the  attentioTi 
"  from  nature  and  truth  ;  and  fills  the  mind  with  extravagant  thoughts,  and 
"  too  often  with  criminal  propensities.  1  would,  therefore,  caution  my 
"  yoimg  readers,"  says  he,  "  against  them  ;  or  if  he  must,  for  the  sake  of 
"  amusement,  and  that  he  may  have  something  to  say  on  the  subject,  in- 
"  dulge  himself  in  this  way  now  and  then,  let  it  be  sparingly  and  seldom." 

Dr  Bcattie's  next  Dissertation  is  on  the  "  Attachments  of  Kindred." 

He  prefaces  this  Essay  with  a  note,  in  which  he  tells  us,  that  there  are 
modern  authors,  who,  from  an  excessive  admiration  of  the  Greek  policy, 
seem  to  have  formed  en-oneous  opinions  in  regard  to  some  of  the  points 
touched  on  in  this  discourse.  With  a  view  to  those  opinions,  the  discourse 
was  written  several  years  ago.  Afterwards,  when  a  book  called  "  Thely- 
"  plilhora"  appeared,  he  had  thoughts,  he  says,  of  enlarging  these  remarks, 
so  as  to  make  them  comprehend  an  examination  of  it.  This  the  authors  of 
the  "  Monthly  Review"  rendered  unnecessary,  by  giving  a  very  ingenious, 
learned,  and  decisive,  confutation  of  that  profligate  system.  He  therefore 
publishes  his  Essay,  he  says,  as  it  was  first  written  ;  satisfied  that  Mr  Ma- 
dan's  book,  whatever  private  immoralities  it  may  promote  among  the  licen- 
tious and  ignorant,  will  have  no  weight  with  tlie  public,  nor  deserve  farther 
animadversion. 

In  this  Dissertation  we  do  not  indeed  meet  with  any  thing  very  new.  The 
usual  arguments  in  favour  of  marriage,  and  against  polygamy,  on  tiie  mutual 
relati  ns  between  parent  and  cliild,  and  the  various  systems  that  have  been 
formed  by  legislators  respecting  education,  are  detailed  witli  precision,  and 
in  a  most  agreeable  manner.  Upon  the  whole,  his  general  conclusion  is, 
that  the  present  system,  according  to  which  society  is  constituted  in  modern 
Europe,  is  the  most  congenial  to  our  nature,  an4  the  most  productive  of  vir- 
tue, as  well  as  happiness,  to  mankind. 


552  APPENDIX. 

His  condiiding'  Dissertation  is  entitled,  "  Illustrations  of  Subrmiity  ;"  in 
which  he  has  unfolded  in  a  very  pleasing  manner,  and  explained  b}-  well- 
chosen  examples,  chiefly  from  the  poets,  the  true  principles  of  sublimity,  as 
they  are  founded  in  human  nature.     This  is  an  excellent  Essay. 

Note  [Z.]  p.  27S. 

The  Reverend  Georg-e  Can*,  the  excellent  man  who  is  the  subject  of  this 
note,  was  born  at  Newcastle,  16th  February,  1704,  and  educated  at  St 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  where  lie  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 
Soon  after  his  return  to  Newcastle  he  went  into  orders,  and  in  tlieyear  1737 
was  appointed  senior  clergyman  of  the  episcopal  chapel  at  Edinburgh,  wliere 
lie  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  ;  and  officiated  for  the  space  of  nine-and- 
tiiirty  years,  during  three-and-twcnty  of  which,  I  had  the  happiness  of  being 
his  very  constant  hearer.  Of  his  merit  as  api'eacher,  his  posthumous  discour- 
ses bear  ample  testimony.  They  do  not  indeed  contain  the  profound,  though 
somewhat  abstracted,  reasonings  of  Butler,  nor  the  laboured  but  elegant 
discussions  of  Sherlock,  neither  the  learning  of  Tillotson,  nor  the  declama- 
tion of  Seed  ;  but  they  exhibit  the  most  useful  and  important  truths  of  the 
Gospel,  not  only  with  plainness  and  perspicuity,  but  in  language  always 
elegant,  and  seldom  incorrect.  I  may  even  go  farther,  and  add,  that  Mr 
Carr's  style  often  rises  into  eloquence  ;  and  that  in  its  general  features,  of 
plainness  without  vulgarity,  and  earnestness  without  bombast,  in  its  equal 
distance  from  obsciu-ity,  and  from  useless  amplilication,  it  exhibits  no  com- 
mon model  of  that  sober  and  chastened  eloquence,  which  ought  ever  to  be 
studied  in  discourses  of  the  pidpit. 

In  each  discourse  he  makes  choice  of  one  single  topic  of  belief  or  prac- 
tice, which  he  illustrates  and  enforces  by  all  the  principal  motives  that  can 
be  urged,  neither  too  briefly,  so  as  to  leave  his  argument  imperfect,  nor  at 
so  great  length  as  to  give  no  i-oom  for  any  addition  by  an  attentive  and  well- 
informed  reader.  His  discourses  are  in  a  ]}eculiar  manner  distinguished  by 
the  most  engaging  spirit  of  charity,  of  moderation,  of  benevolence,  continu- 
ally inculcating  the  love  of  God  and  our  neighbour  as  the  sum  of  the  law  ; 
and  recommending  tlie  government  and  regulation  of  our  appetites,  passions, 
and  aflections,  as  the  best  method  of  securing  happiness  on  earth  as  well  as 
hereafter. 

If  Mr  Carr's  composition  can  be  deemed  in  any  respect  negligent  or  in- 
correct, it  is  chiefly  from  a  degree  of  redundancy,  when  he  occasionally  re- 
peats the  same  thought,  though  almost  always  with  a  variety  of  expression  ; 
a  fault,  if  it  be  a  fault,  that  passed  unnoticed  in  tlie  pulpit,  for  which  alone 
these  discourses  wei-e  originally  intended,  and  which  he  would  no  doubt  have 
corrected,  had  he  lived  to  prepare  them  for  publication.  His  delivery, 
though  not  animated,  was  graceful  and  pleasing  ;  and  tliough  it  might  be 
said  to  border  somewhat  on  monotony,  those  of  my  readers  who  remember 
it  will  agree  with  me  in  the  declaration,  tliat  he  i>ever  failed  to  engage  and 
preserve  the  attention  of  his  hearers ;  and  that  every  word  he  uttered,  every 
doctrine  he  taught,  every  virtue  he  recomniQiided,  came  strongly  enfojeed 


APPENDIX.  5^3 

by  the  purity  of  his  morak  and  the  exemplai'y  piety  of  his  blameless  life. 
With  all  the  good-breeding  of  a  gentleman,  he  was  a  cheerful  entertaining 
companion  ;  and  though  his  manners  were  most  irreproachable,  they  had  no 
tincture  of  either  rigour  or  austerity.  His  patient  suiFering  under  the  most 
excruciating  tortures  of  the  gout,  with  which,  though  extremely  temperate, 
he  had  been  for  many  years  violently  afflicted,  was  most  exemplary  ;  and 
cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  following  private  letter  to  one  of  his 
oldest  and  most  intimate  friends,  written  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  the 
copy  of  which  was  found  among  his  papers.  I  feel  a  pleasure  in  inserting  it, 
as  so  strongly  characteristic  of  my  departed  friend. 

"  I  ought  much  sooner  to  have  acknowledged  your  last  letter ;  but  in- 
*'  disposition  must  be  my  apology.  I  flattered  myself,  that  after  a  succes- 
"  sion  of  fits  of  the  gout  from  January  to  June,  I  should  have  had  an  intei'val 
"  of  health  this  summer  as  usual ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  :  and  I  fear  I  am 
"  doomed  to  a  perpetual  gout,  either  fixed  or  wandering.  If  it  were  in  my 
•*  option,  I  do  not  know  whether  I  should  chuse  to  hold  existence  upon  these 
*'  terms.  I  own  to  you,  I  am  one  of  those,  who  would  not  wish  to  run  the 
"  race  of  life  over  again,  if  the  ground  were  to  be  marked  out  precisely  with 
"  the  same  pleasures  and  pains.  I  shudder  when  I  look  forward  to  winter, 
"  and  take  a  view  of  the  terrible  road  I  expect  to  pass.  But  I  shall  then 
*'  probably  be  near  the  ending  post ;  and  then,  adieu  to  pain.  Then,  I  hope, 
"  existence  will  become  extremely  eligible;  for  surely  it  was  meant  upon  the 
"  whole  a  favour  to  every  created  being.  The  Creator  would  never  have 
."  Introduced  us  into  existence,  if  he  saw  that  we  should  be  sufi'erers  by  it. 
*'  He,  who  has  the  sole  disposal  of  pleasures  and  pains,  and  can  weigh  them 
"  with  the  utmost  accuracy,  will  certainly  order  matters  so,  that  the  former 
"  shall  at  last  pi'eponderate.  But  no  more  of  these  grave  reflections.  I  have 
"  the  pleasure  to  inform  you,"  *  *  *  &c.  &c. 

In  this  heavenly  frame  of  mind  he  continued  faithfully  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  his  sacred  function,  calmly  looking  for,  but  not  soliciting,  his  dis- 
solution, until  the  morning  of  Sunday  the  18th  August,  1776,  when,  after 
having  selected  the  discourse  which  he  meant  that  day  to  dehver  from  the 
pulpit,  lie  suddenly  expired.  An  awful  warning  to  those  who  survive  !  For 
how  few  like  him  are  so  well  prepared  for  a  summons  so  unlocked  for  ?  yet 
how  uncertain  are  we,  that  the  same  sudden  fate  may  not  be  our  own  !  How 
studious,  then,  ought  we  to  be,  that  our  lives,  like  his,  may  be  pure  and  un- 
corruptcd  by  the  business,  the  follies,  the  vices,  of  the  world,  so  that 
when  God  sludl  require  our  souls  of  us,  we  may  not  be  surprised  in  an  hour 
when  we  are  least  thinking  of  it. 

His  widow  did  me  the  honour  to  put  his  manuscripts  into  my  hands, 
from  which,  with  the  assistance  of  a  friend,  I  made  choice  of  this  volume 
now  in  print,  as  the  most  finished,  and  therefore  the  most  proper  for  publica- 
tion. I  accepted  of  tliis  task  with  singular  pleasure;  and  endeavoured  to 
execute  it  with  care  and  attention.  It  made  me  happy  to  contribute  in  any 
way  to  the  perpetuating  the  memory,  and  rendering  the  virtues  and  the  ta- 
lents more  extensively  known,  of  one  witli  whose  friendship  I  had  been  Jjon- 

4  A 


S54,  APPE^NDIX. 

oured  during'  m.any  3ear9.  The  veneration  I  shall  ever  retain  for  the  memo- 
ry of  this  excellent  ma)i,  will  plead  my  excuse,  I  trust,  for  having  dwelt  lon- 
ger on  this  character  than  might  otherwise  seem  necesfiary. 

Note  [AA.]  p.  282. 
This  reference  applies  equally  with  that  at  [Y.]  to  the  same  volume  of 
"  Dis'sertationa  Moral  and  Critical." 

Note  [BB.]  p.  297. 
A  similar  reference  to  tlie  same  person  with  that  at  [R.]  p.  105. 

Note  [CC]  p.  302. 

Mr  Garrick  was  born  28th  February,  1716.  His  father,  Captain  GarricK, 
a  gentleman  of  respectable  character,  on  retiring  from  the  army,  fixed  his 
residence  at  Lichfield,  where  his  son  received  his  education,  the  latter  part 
of  it  at  an  academy  opened  in  that  neighbourhood  by  the  celebrated  Dr  Sa- 
muel Joiinson  ;  whence,  notwithstanding  the  disparity  of  years,  an  intimate 
friendship  commenced  between  these  two  eminent  men,  which  lasted  during 
the  rest  of  their  lives. 

Johnson  not  succeeding,  however,  with  his  academy,  young  Garrick  and 
he  resolved  to  try  their  fortunes  in  London ;  whither  they  accordingly  re- 
paired in  spring,  1737.  In  thus  relating  their  first  outsetting  together,  it  is 
curious  to  remark  the  diversity  of  their  subsequent  fortunes  In  the  world} 
and  I  believe  it  was  not  without  envy,  as  well  as  indignation,  that  Dr  John- 
son saw  his  fellow-traveller  start  at  once  into  celebrity,  and  speedily  amass 
a  large  fortune,  by  the  exercise  of  a  profession,  which  he  always  affected  to 
view  with  some  contempt ;  while  he  himself,  who  rose  to  the  first  station  in 
literature,  continued  in  poverty  during  the  greatest  part  of  his  long  life  ;  and., 
after  struggling  with  all  the  hardships  attendant  on  the  profession  of  a  mere 
author,  condemned  to  write  for  daily  bread,  arrived,  even  at  last,  at  no  morf; 
than  a  very  moderate  income. 

Garrick's  original  destination  was  the  bar  ;  and  on  his  arrival  in  London 
he  was  entered  of  Lincoln's-Inn.  He  soon,  however,  abandoned  the  pursu;!, 
of  the  law,  as  well  as  of  business,  in  wliich  he  had  made  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  as  a  wine-merchant.  Having!;-  now  lost  both  his  father  and  mother, 
however,  (to  whose  feelings  he  had  hitherto  sacrificed  his  own  inclinations) 
he  found  himself  at  liberty  to  indulge  his  darling  passion  for  the  stage,  and 
he  prepared  himself  in  earnest  for  tliat  employment,  in  which  nature  meant 
him  so  highly  to  excel.  His  difliidence  prevented  him  from  appearing  at  first 
on  a  London  theatre  ;  and  he  embraced  the  opportunity  of  commencing  his 
noviciate,  by  acting  with  a  company  of  players  at  Ipswich,  in  .summer,  1741. 
Kis  first  character  was  Aboan,  in  Southern's  "  Oi'oonoko,''  which  he  per- 
formed under  the  assumed  name  of  Lyddall.  Tiie  applause  he  met  with 
\vas  ecjual  to  liis  most  sanguine  wishes ;  and  lie  afterwards  frequently  ap- 
peared there  in  tlie  course  of  the  season,  with  a  success  which  answered  alL 
his  views  in  this  distant  noviciate,. 


APPENDIX.  535 

After  having  thus  tried  lils  powers,  and  having  studied  with  great  assidui- 
ty a  variety  of  parts,  he  ventured,  on  the  19tli  October,  1741,  to  present 
himself  before  a  London  audience,  at  the  theatre  in  Goodman's -Fields,  in 
the  character  of  Richard  the  Third.  His  performance  was  received  not  only 
with  approbation,  but  astonishment.  The  same  play  was  repeated  six  or 
seven  times  successively.  And  such  was  the  universal  applause  wliich  fol- 
lowed this  young  actor,  that  the  more  established  houses  of  Drury-Lane  and 
Covent-Garden  were  deserted  :  he  drew  after  him  to  the  city  the  fashionable 
inhabitants  of  St.  James's  ;  and  the  ccaches  of  the  nobility  were  to  be  seen, 
says  one  of  his  biographers,*  from  Temple  Bar  to  White-Chapel.  Nor  was 
this  merely  the  fashion  of  a  day  ;  they  who  liad  s<;en  the  most  esteemed  ac- 
tors, the  Booths,  the  Wilkes's,  and  the  Gibbers  of  former  times,  confessed, 
that  he  had  exceeded  all  of  them  in  the  variety  of  his  exhibitions,  and  equal- 
led the  ablest  of  them  in  the  most  appropriate  of  their  parts. 

The  versatility  of  his  talents  was  probably  beyond  example  in  the  histo- 
r}'  of  the  stage.  He  was  distinguished  not  only  in  the  most  eminent  of 
Shakespeare's  tragic  characters,  to  which  he  peculiarly  bent  the  whole  ener- 
gy of  his  powers,  Macbeth,  Lear,  Richard,  Hamlet ;  but  he  was  unrivalled, 
also,  in  the  comic  parts  of  Benedick,  Bayes,  Ranger,  Sir  John  Brute,  Abel 
Drugger,  and  many  others  of  a  similar  description.  To  those  who  were  ac- 
customed to  the  stage  as  it  then  appeai'ed,  he  broke  forth  at  once  as  a  theat- 
rical meteor,  banishing  rant,  bombast,  and  grimace,  and  restoring  nature, 
ease,  simplicity,  and  genuine  humour.  And  it  is  Garrick's  best  eulogy,  that 
altliough  we  have  seen  a  Mrs  Gibber,  a  Mrs  Pritchard,  a  Mrs  Barry,  a  Mrs 
Yates,  a  Mrs  Siddons,  all  of  them  great  actresses  in  their  various  ways,  no 
actor  hsiS  appeared  since  his  day,  (I  speak  it  without  derogation  of  any,  either 
living  04-  dead,)  who,  in  my  mind  at  least,  has  possessed  the  art  of  expressing 
with  equal  force  the  eifusions  of  comic  gaiety  and  of  tragic  terror,  or  who 
deserves,  in  these  respects,  to  be  placed  at  all  in  competition  with  him.  Nor 
is  it  without  a  more  than  ordinary  degree  of  emotion,  that,  at  this  long  inter- 
val, I  now  retrace,  "  in  my  mind's  eye,"  the  various  scenes  in  which  I  have 
so  often  beheld  him  with  supreme  delight,  and  remember  that  these  match- 
less exhibitions  can  be  seen  no  more. 

As  a  manager,  a  situation  which  Mr  Garrick  held  at  Drury-Lane  theatre 
during  many  years,  the  stage  owed  him  great  obligations  for  the  decorum 
which  he  preserved  in  the  pieces  that  were  represented  ;  banishing  all  those 
of  an  improper  tendency,  which  the  licentious  temper  of  a  former  age  had 
suffered  to  appear.  As  a  comic  writer,  too,  he  em-iched  the  stage  with  se. 
veral  pieces  of  distinguished  merit ;  and  his  prologue-sand  epilogues,  as  well 
as  several  small  pieces  of  lighter  poetry,  are  excellent  of  their  kind. 

After  having  thus  continued,  during  the  long  period  of  five-and-thirtv 
years,  to  delight  the  public  with  his  unrivalled  excellence  in  his  profession, 
finding  his  bodily  health  much  broken,  while  his  powers  of  acting  were  s(il! 
unimpaired,  he  wisely  formed  the  resolution  of  retiring  from  the  stage ; 
which  I  saw  him  do  on  the  10th  June,  1776.  He  lived  but  a  short  time  after, 
and  died  20th  January,  1779. 

*   Davies's  "  Life  of  Garrick,"  Vol.  I.  p.  48. 


556  APPENDIX. 

Beside  the  public  applause  and  admiration,  of  which  Mr  Gai-rick  enjoyed 
80  large  a  share,  he  had  the  happiness  to  possess  the  friendship  of  a  nume- 
rous and  splendid  circle  of  those  who  were  most  eminent  for  rank,  fortune, 
and  literary  accomplishments,  of  his  time.  As  he  had  acquired  an  opulent 
fortune,  he  lived  with  splendid  hospitality ;  and  his  convivial  powers  made 
him  the  delight  of  every  company  of  which  he  made  a  part.  Johnson,  after 
having  borne  this  emphatic  testimony  in  favour  of  Gan-ick's  superior  merit 
on  the  stage,  "  that  he  was  the  only  actor  he  had  ever  seen,  whom  he  could 
♦'  call  a  master  both  in  tragedy  and  comedy,"  concluded  with  this  compli- 
ment to  his  social  talents,  '*  and  after  all,  I  thought  liim  less  to  be  envied  on 
"  the  stage  than  at  the  head  of  a  table  :"*  a  sentiment  in  which  it  appears 
both  Mrs  Montagu  and  Dr  Beattie  entirely  conciu*red. 

It  is  with  pleasure,  too,  that  I  add  another  testimony  of  Johnson's  in  his 
favour,  of  a  more  valuable  nature  :  When  Garrick  was  accused  of  avarice, 
Johnson  said,  "  I  know  that  Garrick  has  given  away  more  money  than  any 
"  man  in  England  that  I  am  acquainted  with  ;  and  that  '^ot  from  ostentatious 
"  views."! 

I  have  always  deemed  it  a  piece  of  good  fortune,  that  I  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  being  introduced  to  Mr  Gai  rick's  acquaintanci  ;  and  while  I  sha^red 
with  the  world  in  the  admiration  of  his  public  talents,  of  witnessing  the  fas- 
cination of  his  manners  in  private  life. 

Note  [DD.]  p.  323.  ' 

The  publication  of  the  "  Mirror"  was  undertaken  at  Edinburgh  by  a  set 
of  friends,  chiefly  of  the  Scottish  bar,  whose  attachment  to  literary  piu-suits 
was  congenial ;  and  who,  meeting  frequently  in  the  intercourse  of  business 
or  societ) ,  found  their  conversation  insensibly  turn  u])on  subjects  of  man- 
ners, of  taste,  and  of  literature  ;  until  by  one  of  those  accidental  i-esolutions, 
of  which  the  origin  cannot  easily  be  traced,  it  was  determnied  to  \>\\t  their 
thoughts  into  writing,  and  to  read  them  for  the  entertainment  of  each  other. 
These  essays  thus  assumed  the  form  ;  and  soon  after,  some  one  suggested 
the  idea  of  a  periodical  paper.  Having  resolved  to  print  their  lucubrations, 
the  selection  of  materials  for  their  work  afforded  them  a  most  agreeable 
amusement;  and  they  constituted  themselves  into  a  club,  which  met  and 
decided  on  the  merits  of  those  pieces,  which,  like  the  lion's  mouth  of  their 
predecessor  the  "  Spectator,"  were  coiiveyed  tothem  anonymously  through 
the  hands  of  their  publisher,  as  well  as  those  furnished  by  themselves. 

*  Boswell's  "  Life  of  Johnson,"  Vol.  IV.  p.  253.  8vo.  ed.  4th. 

+  Boswell's  "  Life  of  Johnson/'   Vol.  III.  p.  72.  8vo.  ed.  4th. 

It  has  been  told  to  me  by  a  friend,  who  heard  Sir  William  Jones  relate,  that  he  went 
in  the  same  coach  with  Dr  Johnson  to  Mr  G.inick's  luneral,  and  that  he  employed  the 
whole  time  in  going  from  the  Adelphi,  where  Garrick's  house  was,  to  Westminster. 
Abbey,  in  pronouncing  a  studied  eulogy  upon  his  deceased  friend,  of  which  Sir  William 
particularly  remembered  the  following  expression  :  "  Mr  Garrick  and  his  profession  have 
''  been  equally  indebted  to  each  other.  His  iirofession  made  him  rich,  and  he  made  his 
"  profession  respectable,"  This  was  well  said,  in  Johnson's  best  manner,  and  deserves 
not  to  be  forgotten. 

,* 


APPENDIX.  557 

The  very  respectable  list,  prefixed  to  the  later  editions,  ofthemames  of 
the  authors  of  each  paper.shows  of  what  distinguished  characters  this  literary 
society  consisted  ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  of  those  essayists, 
no  fewer  than  six  either  are,  or  have  been,  Judges  of  the  supreme  courts  of 
law  in  Scotland  ;*  other  members  of  the  society  were  equally  respectable 
for  talents  and  literary  accomplishments. 

The  gentlemen  who  thus  associated  themselves  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  public,  by  these  periodical  papers,  conscious  of  the  advantage,  indeed  of 
the  necessity  at  first,  of  concealment,  kept  themselves  entirely  unknown,  even 
to  their  publisher,  until  the  whole  was  finished,  when  concealment  had  ceased 
to  be  necessary  ;  as  the  public  approbation  had  left  them  no  longer  under 
any  apprehension  as  to  the  reception  which  their  labours  would  meet  with 
from  the  world.  The  intercourse  between  them  and  their  publisher  was  car- 
ried on  by  Mr  Henry  Mackenzie,  from  whom  he  received  tlie  manuscript 
from  time  to  time,  although  he  knew  that  others  beside  that  gentleman  were 
engaged  in  the  undertaking.  Mr  Mackenzie,  who  not  only  undertook  the 
general  conduct  of  the  work,  but  who  also  contributed  more  papers  to  the 
common  stock  than  any  other  member  of  the  association,  was  v\ell  known  to 
the  literary  world  by  various  pieces,  whicli  had  been  extremely  well  received. 
The  first  was  an  ethic  epistle,  printed  anonjmously,  by  the  title  of  the  "  Pur- 
"  suits  of  Happiness;"  a  poem  of  very  considerable  merit,  especially  when 
considered  as  the  production  of  so  young  a  writer.  His  next  work  had 
di'awn  to  its  author  much  attention,  and  had  stamped  hini  with  the  charac- 
ter of  a  writer  of  original  genius,  and  distinguished  talents.  It  was  his  well 
known  novel,  "The  Man  of  Feehng;"  of  the  public  approbation  of  which, 
the  best  proof  is  its  having  gone  through  so  great  a  number  of  editions. 
He  had  also  published  two  other  novels,  "  Julia  de  Roubigne,"  and  "  The 
"  Man  of  the  World,"  which  have  been  favourably  received,  and  o{  which 
new  editions  continue  to  be  called  for  :  and  he  had  brought  on  the  stage  at 
Edinburgh,  in  the  year  1773,  a  tragedy  named  the  "  Prince  of  Tunis," 
where  it  had  the  advantage  of  the  great  powers  of  that  capital  actress, 
Mrs  Yates,  but  has  never  since  been  revived. 

I  have  said  elsewhere, f  that  periodical  papers  are  a  species  of  publica- 
tion almost  peculiar  to  England,  although  Dr  Beattie  observes,  that  some  of 
Seneca's  epistles  are  compositions  of  the  same  character.  A  few  years  ago, 
an  attempt  was  made  in  France,  by  the  celebrated  novelist.  Mad.  Riccoboni, 
to  introduce  a  periodical  paper  at  Paris,  luider  the  title  of  "  L'Abeille  ;" 
but  it  did  not  succeed,  and  only  three  numbers  were  printed.  The  first  se- 
ries of  these  popular  essays  that  appeared  in  England,  the  first  at  least  of 
any  great  reputation,  was  the  "  Tatler,"  projected  and  begim  by  Sir  Richard 
Steele,  who  soon  received  a  powerful  co-adjutor  in  Mr  Addison.  The  "Tat- 

*  Lord  Abercromby,   Lord  Craig,     and  Lord  Cullen,  were  original   members  of  the 
club,  or  association.     Lord  Hailesj  Mr  Baron  Gordon,  and  Lord  Woodhouselee,  contri- 
buted papers  as  correspondents, 
t  See  supra,  p.  376. 


558  APPENDIX. 

*'  ler"  was  followed  by  the  "  Spectator,"  of  which,  as  also  ofthe  "Guardian," 
the  principal  writers  were  Steele  and  Addison,  with  the  occasional  as- 
sistance of  Pope,  Budgell,  Lord  Hardwicke,  and  Dr  Pearce,  Bishop  of  Ro- 
chester, who  only  died  the  29th  June,  1774,  beyon<l  tlie  eighty-fiftli  year  of 
his  age,  and  was  the  last  surviving  writer  of  the  "  Spectator."  From  the 
publication  of  those  three  celebrated  papers,  of  which  the  "  Spectator"  is,  I 
think,  generally  allowed  to  be  the  best,  and  Addison  unquestionably  entitled 
to  the  prefei-ence  as  a  writer,  an  interval  of  almost  forty  years  intervened  be- 
fore any  paper  of  pre-eminent  merit  made  its  appearance,  when  the  "Ram- 
"  bier,"  and  afterwai'ds  the  "  Idler,"  were  published  by  Dr  Johnson.  Then 
appeared  the  "  Adventurer"*  by  Dr  Hawkesworth,  with  some  assistance 
from  Dr  Johnson  and  Mr  Warton,  which  was  succeeded  by  tlie  "  World," 
chiefly  written  by  Mr  Moore,  Mr  Jenyns,  Mr  Cambridge,  Lord  Chesterfield* 
Horace  Waljiole  (Lord  Orford),  Sir  David  Dalrymple  (Lord  Hales).  The 
•*  Connoisseur"  was  written  by  Lloyd  and  Thornton. 

After  a  considerable  length  of  time,  the  "  Mirror"  first,  and  next  the 
"  Lounger,"  by  the  same  set  of  friends,  were  published  at  Edinburgh.  And 
it  is  no  mean  praise,  that  these  two  papers  still  continue  to  maintain  their 
place  among  so  many  other  excellent  productions  of  a  similar  nature.  The 
•'  Mirror"  and  "  Lounger,"  in  truth,  are  written  with  elegance  ;  and  many 
of  them,  those  by  Mr  Mackenzie  in  particular,  on  serious  and  important  sub- 
jects, in  a  manner  that  do  honour  to  the  heart  of  the  wi-iter  as  a  moralist,  as 
well  as  to  his  taste  and  judgment  as  a  polite  scholar.f 

Several  of  the  characters  are  well  drawn,  and  well  supported ;  and  not- 
withstanding the  narrow  limits  of  local  mannei's,  by  which  the  writers  have 
found  themselves  occasionally  circumscribed,  their  lucubrations  will  be  read 
with  interest,  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  stock  of  English  polite  literature. 

The  "  Mirror"  commenced  23d  January,  1779,  and  continued  till  27tli 
May,  1780.  The  "  Lounger"  commenced  5th  February,  1785,  and  termi- 
Dated  6th  January,  1787.    No  similar  publication  is  carrying  on  at  pri^ent. . 


•  See  supra,  p.  376.  t  Se6  "  Mirror,"  No.  HO. 


APPENDIX.  559 

LIST  OF  DR  BEATTIE's  WORKS. 

Poems, first  published  in  the  year        1760. 

Essay    on  Truth, ditto,         1771, 

Minstrel,  Book  I •     .       ditto,         1771. 

Book  II ditto,         1774. 

Essay  on    Truth, .     .  "^ 

on  Poetry  and  Music.     .....        1    ^.^^^^        ^^^^ 

on  Laughter  and  Ludicrous  Composition,  f 

on  Classical  Learning, J 

Dissertations  on  Memory  and  Imagination,    .    "^ 


on  Dreaming, 

on  the  Theory  of  Language,     .      \    ,. 
on  Fable  and  Romance,     .     .     .     \ 


on  the  Attachments  of  Kindred, 
on  Illustrations  of  Sublimity,     . 


17S3. 


J 

Evidences  of  Christianity,    .......  ditto,         1786. 

Elements  of  Moral  Science,  Vol.  I ditto,         1790. 

— Vol.  II ditto,        1793. 

A  translation  into  Dutch  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth"  was  published  at 
Utrecht  in  the  year  1773 ;  and  the  first  volume  of  "  Elements  of  Moral 
•«*  Science"  was  also  translated  into  the  same  language,  soon  after  the  book 
was  published  here,  by  Frederick  Henry  Hennert,  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  Experimental  Philosophy  In  the  university  of  Utrecht.  Whether  a  trans- 
lation was  also  published  of  the  second  volume  of  that  work,  I  do  not  find 
,any  trace  among  his  papers. 


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